–Bench also orders formation of judici­al tribun­al to monitor reopened cases

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday ordered the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the May 12, 2007 violent riots in Karachi.

The court, which had earlier reserved its decision on a plea to reopen the 65 pending cases — most of which were declared ‘A Class’ (proceedings in the case frozen with the approval of the court) —ordered the reopening of the case, while announcing its verdict.

More than 50 people were killed and hundreds were injured in Karachi when miscreants attacked people going to the airport to receive the then-deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi ahead of a lawyers’ gathering.

Justice Chaudhry was forced to fly back to Islamabad after having been restricted to the airport for nine hours. Muttahida Quami Movement’s Waseem Akhtar was home adviser to the Sindh chief minister at the time.

Hearing the case, justices Iqbal Kalhoro and KK Agha directed for the formation of a judicial tribunal.

The two-member bench also sought a report from the Sindh government on payment of compensation to those injured during the clashes and families of the ones that lost their lives.

The bench also requested SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shah to appoint a judge in order to monitor the reopened cases.

The verdict announced by the court states the following:

The JIT must submit a progress report every 2 weeks

The case must be reviewed from scratch

The mastermind in the case must be interrogated

Tribunal court will also submit a report

A final decision will be made after reviewing both the JIT and judicial tribunal’s reports

The petition, filed by Iqbal Kazmi, had demanded the formation of a judicial tribunal. It had also nominated former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain, former interior minister and then Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal in the events that unfolded in the port city on May 12, 2007.

Petitioner claimed that MQM wreaked havoc in Karachi on the directives of General (r) Musharraf to prevent former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from arriving into the city and addressing the legal fraternity.

Earlier on May 12 this year, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had directed the high court to decide the case within three months. Subsequently, the court reserved the decision after both sides had completed their arguments.

The counsel for the Sindh government had contended during the hearing of the case that there was no need to ignite the 11-year-old issue. He argued that during the current year a larger bench of the high court had declared the case non-maintainable.