KARACHI: The Sindh government has sought the completion of joint investigation teams (JITs) within two months by the law enforcement and intelligence agencies in line with the Sindh High Court orders, which said the delay in the process was affecting release of those found innocent, it emerged on Sunday.

A senior official confirmed that the provincial government in recent communiqués had asked the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to enhance their coordination and complete the process within two months, designing a better mechanism to achieve the objectives.

“We have already asked the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are part of the JIT, to complete the process within two months,” home secretary Dr Niaz Abbassi told Dawn. “The directions were passed in line with the court orders. The purpose is to expedite the process so the release of those found innocent can be made sure at the earliest. So it’s hoped that JITs in the future would be completed within the stipulated time of two months.”

The court directives emerged during the hearing of a petition of a man seeking recovery of his son detained by the law enforcement agencies. The JIT set up by the government finally found the detained man innocent, but it took more than two months to release him and the delay led to directives by the court to order the government to devise a fresh standard operating procedure (SOP) to complete the process at the earliest.

“The court had also issued directives to the government to appoint a focal person to keep liaison with the office of the Sindh advocate general in the ‘preventive detention cases,’” said a source citing the court orders.

Besides, he said, the court also sought the SOP in the ‘preventive detention cases’ to conduct the JIT in a ‘reasonable timeframe’ so that the report could be submitted to the competent authority at an early date.

“The purpose of three months allowed for detention does not mean that the JIT should be formed at the verge of expiry period detention or if it is formed earlier then it is not the idea at the back of this legislation to submit the report at the time of ending preventive detention period,” he quoted the court orders.

“In our view, a standard operating procedure must have been made out with the consultation of all law enforcement agencies so that as soon as a person is taken into preventive detention in the above law, not only the JIT is formed immediately if required but the report of JIT shall also be submitted within a reasonable timeframe so that if any person is found innocent in JIT, he should be released forthwith and if a person is found suspect of any crime, he may be dealt with in accordance with law by initiating further legal proceedings.”

He said that the government was working to expedite the JIT process for which it sought input of different law enforcement agencies, including intelligence agencies, Rangers and the police.

“Another issue which sometimes delays the process in the formation of the JIT is a lack of coordination among the institutions. With this initiative, the government would also be able to remove those shortcomings,” added the source.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014