SHC tells IGP to submit report on pending cases against Babar Ghauri

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the provincial inspector general of police to file a comprehensive statement whether or not any FIR or inquiry has been pending against Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader and former senator Babar Ghauri.

Hearing a petition of Ghauri, who sought details of pending cases against him, a division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, took exception to the IGP’s failure to comply with a court order in this regard.

The court observed that the IGP had sought time to gather information and his report had revealed that a few DIGs had submitted reports that no inquiry or FIR was pending against the petitioner.

It further observed that it could not be expected that such matters were dealt with in a piecemeal manner by going from DIG to DIG, asking them to file a statement with regard to any pending inquiry against the petitioner.

The court directed the IGP to submit a comprehensive report confirming whether or not any FIR or inquiry was pending against the petitioner or else he would appear before the court in person. It also directed the special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau to file a report about pending cases against the petitioner by December 15.

Ghauri had moved the court, asking that details of pending cases against him be brought before the court of the law. His counsel submitted that his client feared that he would be again arrested when he returned to Pakistan on the basis of some unknown inquiries.

The counsel said NAB and the federal and provincial governments may be directed to tell the court whether any inquiries or cases were pending against him so that he may get protective or transitory bail prior to his return to the country.

Ghauri, who was also the federal minister for ports and shipping and a senator in the former PPP coalition government, has been facing cases in an anti-terrorism court on charges of money laundering and terrorism financing to the MQM-London and illegal appointments to the Karachi Port Trust.

The petitioner’s counsel had earlier said that the petitioner had been earlier granted transitory protective bail in two criminal cases pending against him to surrender before the trial courts; however, he was booked in another case upon his arrival in Karachi.