KARACHI: A few hours after his return to the country from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Jam Abdul Karim appeared before the Sindh High Court on Thursday and got interim pre-arrest bail in the Nazim Jokhio murder case.

On March 25, a two-judge SHC bench had granted10-day protective bail to the MNA, who was shown as one of the absconders in the Jokhio murder case.

On Thursday, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab received the MNA at the airport and drove him straight to the SHC, where he along with his legal team appeared before Justice Omar Sail and filed his bail application.

The MNA’s lawyer took the plea that the forum of trial court had not been available yet since the final charge sheet of the case was still pending with the office of the Sindh prosecutor general.

He argued that initially, the charge sheet of the case was filed before a judicial magistrate (Malir), but he was of the view that the case should be tried by an antiterrorism court. The magistrate returned the case papers and the investigating officer submitted the same in the office of the prosecutor general for scrutiny, he added.

The lawyer further submitted that the prosecutor general office had yet to take a decision on the case papers and at the moment the charge sheet was not pending before any court.

Therefore, the counsel argued that in the absence of a trial court, the applicant had been left with no option but to approach the SHC directly for interim pre-arrest until the case was sent to an ATC.

In support of his arguments, the counsel relied upon the orders passed by the SHC in the bail orders of two co-accused persons.

A few days ago, Jokhio’s widow Shireen had filed an affidavit on the bail proceedings of the co-accused. It was submitted in the affidavit that due to her own stratification, firm belief of Almighty Allah and assurance of notable persons of local community, she had patched up the matter and had no objection if the SHC confirmed the bail of applicants.

She also stated in the affidavit that both lawmakers of the PPP — MNA Jam Karim and his brother MPA Jam Awais — had no role in the case.

The bench granted the interim bail to the MNA against a surety bond of Rs100,000 till April 11.

Some people accompanying the MNA and city administrator misbehaved with media persons on the premises of SHC and snatched the cell phone of a journalist when he attempted to film them.

Nazim Jokhio was found tortured to death at the farmhouse of MPA Jam Awais in Malir in November last year. He earned the ire of the influential persons as he resisted their foreign guests from hunting houbara bustard near his village.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2022