ISLAMABAD: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Mushtaq Mehar on Thursday rejected the allegations that terrorism charges against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh were unfounded, saying the case against the PTI leader is pending in court because the charges are “valid”.
“If these charges are unfounded, then how come the case is pending for the last one year?” he told the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, which met under the leadership of Walid Iqbal from the PTI. The IGP Sindh joined the meeting via video link.
PTI Senator Saifullah Abro said terrorism case was registered against the Sindh Assembly opposition leader falsely accusing him of engaging in a scuffle with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers during by-election in Sindh Assembly’s constituency PS-88.
On the other hand, Abro said, terrorism charges were not included in the case related to Nazim Jokhio.
Abro alleged that Jokhio had protested against hunting of Houbara bustard by some foreigners and filmed them while hunting in Sindh. He was kidnapped and forced to apologise to foreigners but Jokhio refused to do so, Abro said, adding that the victim was brutally tortured and killed on the behest of Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) from PPP Jam Awais and PPP Member National Assembly (MNA) Jam Karim.
“In Sindh, the FIR (first information report) of a crime is only registered when there is pressure from the police higher-ups. Otherwise, even heinous crimes go unreported in Sindh,” the PTI senator said, adding that 65 murders took place in Sindh in nine months but their FIRs were never registered.
He said police was not initially registering FIR against the PPP MPA and MNA in NazimJokhio murder case and terrorism charges were not included in the case. The PTI senator alleged that police was instrumental in the escape of five suspects of the case froma court premises on Thursday.
The IGP Sindh said the complainants had not nominated Jam Karim in the case but still police produced the related challan and nominated the accused with the consent of the bereaved family.
Mehar said the five suspects who escaped were “innocent and not wanted in the case. Had they been wanted in the case, they would never have been able to run away.”
He said the five accused were not initially nominated in the case but their names were included on the insistence of complainant.
Mehar said challan into Nazim Jokhio murder case has been completed. The terrorism charges in any case are included on the order of the courts and courts also deal with issues related to delay in FIRs registration, the IGP said. The committee decided to invite the widow of NazimJokhio in the next meeting. The Senate panel also sought report from Sindh government regarding law and order situation in Sindh in general and Larkana in particular.
Committee members including Mehr Taj Roghani, Falak Naz, Gurdeep Singh, Fida Muhammad Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Kamran Murtaza and senior government officials from the relevant provincial and federal departments attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022