KARACHI: The provincial authorities have informed the Sindh High Court that they have challenged its order to make public the joint investigation team (JIT) reports of the Baldia factory fire incident, the alleged Lyari gangster Uzair Jan Baloch and former chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Nisar Morai before the Supreme Court.

In January, the SHC had directed the Sindh chief secretary to make these JIT reports public on a petition filed in 2017 by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Syed Ali Zaidi, now a federal minister.

However, the PTI leader through his lawyer filed an application before the SHC asking it to initiate contempt proceedings against the chief secretary for not complying with the Jan 28 judgement of the SHC. Thus, the SHC issued a notice to the chief secretary.

At the outset of the hearing, the advocate general of Sindh informed a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro that the provincial government had filed an appeal before the apex court against the SHC judgement and it had been fixed for hearing.

Subsequently, the bench adjourned the hearing till July 9.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2020