KARACHI: (Web Desk) After a barrage of criticism by PTI’s Ali Zaidi on Tuesday over the authenticity of the JIT reports released a day earlier by the Sindh government, spokesperson Murtaza Wahab hit back hard, questioning the source of the “other” report Zaidi claimed exists and is “different from the original”.
Zaidi, who seems to have picked up the gauntlet to scrutinise the report on Uzair Baloch, the kingpin of the gang war in Karachi’s Lyari, alleged that the report has been tampered with, urging the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice in this regard.
In response, Wahab claimed Zaidi presented a “counterfeit” report to “malign” the PPP.
“Such papers have been instrumental in discrediting the political leadership in the past,” he said.
“The allegations made by Ali Zaidi were false, untrue and baseless.”
“Ali Zaidi said that an original JIT report exists which bears no signatures. Who is giving him these documents? Are you drafting this report on your laptop? What is your source?” asked Wahab, in a press conference held in Karachi.
“How can it be that a JIT report was made but no one signed it? So no one was ready to own the report?” he continued.
Wahab said that Zaidi then “acknowledged that the report put forth by the Sindh government contains all the signatures, of seven people, including the JIT head and members of law enforcement agencies”.
“Then he says there is one more JIT [report] which has four signatures and which has been sent. To whom has it been sent? The Sindh government which constituted the JIT has not received a copy. It has neither been submitted to any court of law,” said the Sindh government spokesperson.
“Ali Zaidi is a federal minister. He has been appointment on a post which bears much responsibility.
“Can a fedeal minister wave documents which contain no signatures on the floor of the House? Can he level the kind of serious allegations he is levelling on the basis of a plain paper?” Wahab asked.
Wahab said that Zaidi, in his briefing, had done nothing but talked about the “same old things” and had “wasted the nation’s time”.
Referring to a session of the National Assembly in which Zaidi had waved about the JIT report, Wahab said: “Ali Zaidi swore on the floor of the House that whatever he is saying are not his words but that which is contained in the JIT. He has admitted today that he never had any official documents.”
“[Zaidi] said that three JITs were made [in the Uzair Baloch case]. There is always one JIT formed,” Wahab said.
He said that in all the three cases — Uzair Baloch, Nisar Morai, Baldia factory inferno — whose reports had been made public by the Sindh government, it was Sindh who had formed a JIT.
The spokesperson said that official documents are always signed and stamped, as were these reports. “We promised to present a certified JIT and we fulfilled that promise.”
“Zaidi said he has a JIT with four signatures. Was that report submitted to Zaidi?” asked Wahab. He questioned Zaidi’s “mental stability” and said that the minister “had lied on the floor of the House”.
