KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the home department to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to track down Ghulam Qadir Marri, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, his friends and two servants who have been missing since April 7.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, gave the direction while hearing a constitutional petition of Ismail Marri, who sought the recovery of his brother and three members of his personal staff.

The bench put off the matter to May 18, directing the home department to form a JIT with a task to trace Marri and his associates as soon as possible.

At a previous hearing, the Rangers informed the court that they had not arrested Ghulam Qadir Marri. The paramilitary force said Mr Marri and his associates neither were arrested by the force nor were they in their custody.

Qadir Marri’s vehicle was found abandoned near a thermal power station in Jamshoro on April 7.

Ismail, represented by advocate Shahab Sarki, informed the court that his brother had not been produced in any court of law and that his family had not been provided any details regarding any cases against him.

He asked the court to ensure the release of the detainees if they were not wanted in any case.

This is the third case of political importance as far as Sindh’s ruling party is concerned.

A few days earlier, another aide of the former president, Ashfaq Leghari, had gone ‘missing’ from the Superhighway within the jurisdiction of the Gadap Town police station. Leghari’s daughter, Yusra Zainab, too, moved the SHC for the recovery of her father. She said her father went missing while heading to Larkana to attend Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death anniversary. His car was found abandoned near the Quetta Darbar Hotel in Gadap.

The petitioner said she feared her father had been detained illegally by law enforcement agencies and requested the judges to direct them to produce him in a court of law.

Nawab Leghari, a former adviser to the Sindh government and another Zardari aide, had also been whisked away by unidentified people in Islamabad.

MQM leader granted bail

Another two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court granted bail to Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Gulfaraz Khan Khattak and 10 party workers in a case pertaining to riots and attack on media houses on Aug 22, 2016.

The MQM leader along with other party activists were booked by the Artillery Maidan police for allegedly facilitating the attack and attacking private news channels, respectively.

Two other party leaders, MNA Kanwar Naveed Jameel and Qamar Mansoor, and three women were earlier granted bail in the case.

The self-exiled founder of the MQM Altaf Hussain and MQM-Pakistan convener Dr Farooq Sattar were also nominated in the case.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, gave bail to Mr Khattak and others in the sum of Rs200,000 each.

According to the FIR, after listening to a highly provocative speech of their London-based chief Altaf Hussain on Aug 22 at the hunger strike camp outside the Karachi Press Club, the activists resorted to a violent protest, ransacking media houses, killing one Syed Azan Arif, wounding around seven others, torching a police van and a motorbike, rioting and clashing with police.

The case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 124-A (sedition), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage, etc), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 337 (shajjah), 506-B (intimidation) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Artillery Maidan police station.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2017