ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The liquor controversy involving former information minister of Sindh Sharjeel Inam Memon once again echoed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday when Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar hinted at holding the trial anywhere, even in Punjab, if the Sindh administration did not cooperate while police authorities, too, cast doubt on the way the “evidence” was handled.

Without naming any individual, the CJP alluded to the recent findings of a forensic test that showed the bottles seized from the hospital room of the ex-minister did not contain liquor but honey and olive oil and to his blood test result that too was negative for alcohol.

The chief justice himself had found the bottles during his surprise visit to the room of Dr Ziauddin Hospital, which had been declared a sub-jail for the lawmaker facing a NAB reference, on Sept 1. The lawmaker was sent back to the Karachi central prison before being booked in another case, this time under the Zia-era Hudood ordinance, while the bottles and his blood samples were sent to a forensic lab and Aga Khan University Hospital, respectively, for examination.

During the hearing of separate matters related to pathetic conditions of government hospitals and investment in the Pakistan Petroleum Limited, the chief justice referred to the controversy stirred by his recent visit. He claimed that he never saw any bottles containing honey. He said he would have ordered registration of a case then and there after the recovery of liquor bottles if he had such intentions.

CJP hints at shifting trial of former Sindh minister to Punjab for lack of cooperation; Karachi police say evidence handling seems dubious

CJP Nisar said he had found those bottles, which somehow later contained honey and oil, expressing surprise whether someone consumed it (liquor) or not.

The chief justice then regretted about the lack of cooperation on the part of the Sindh government. He wondered how the samples recovered from the room were tampered with or swapped. He also expressed surprise over the way the samples were taken to a laboratory for examination.

He said for the first time he saw hospital rooms better than a hotel suite, but then quickly added that he was least bothered about that, since the Constitution gave immense judicial authority to the judges for implementing court orders. Whenever someone big fell ill, they were shifted to the hospital, the CJP said, while regretting that many private hospitals in the city charged around Rs100,000 a day for treatment that no ordinary patient could afford to pay.

In Karachi, the police authorities said the way “evidence” had been handled raised questions about the authenticity of the samples delivered for laboratory tests. The city police chief said the investigations were not yet over though the police investigators had gathered enough proof that the process of “evidence” transportation was dubious.

“So the question mark is there,” said Additional Inspector General Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh while addressing a press conference.

He said the police had detained hospital staff, jail officials and servants of Mr Memon for questioning.

The additional IG added: “The police investigators are still on their job. We have acquired footage of CCTV [closed-circuit television] camera from the hospital. The footage doesn’t lie and it shows that after the chief justice and senior officials left the hospital, a man brought a shopping bag to the hospital’s room from the ground floor and then the same man took the shopping bag from that room to the ground floor. What was in that shopping bag and how he was moving freely without any check when the room had been declared a sub-jail?”

He said the police investigators were confident about digging out more information and arriving at a conclusion soon.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2018