Enforced disappearance? Lal Masjid cleric missing since December

Police take five months to register FIR

ISLAMABAD:

A cleric associated with Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa seminary has been missing since December last.

Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mughal, who was also detained for nine months after the Lal Masjid operation in 2007, went missing from the Aabpara area on December 14, 2015.

Mughal was in-charge of a branch of Jamia Hafsa seminary located on Lehtrar Road near Dalla Shahpar in the jurisdiction of Nilore Police Station at the time of his disappearance.

Aqeel Amjad, Mughal’s colleague at the seminary, told The Express Tribune that Mughal had come to collect ration from Jamia Hafsa’s head-office in Sector G-7. “That evening, around 7pm, he called me and said he was in the Aabpara Market and asked for other things that needed to be purchased for the madrassah,” Amjad added.

“He also called another of our colleagues and told him that he was leaving Aabpara.”

Mughal, however, did not reach the seminary. Late night, Amjad and others visited hospitals and police stations but could not find him.

The next day, they lodged a complaint with the Aabpara police. The police listed the incident in the daily crime roster (roznamcha) but did not register an FIR.

Amjad said they met several high-ups of the police and the district administration, who all expressed ignorance about Mughal. However, three days after the incident, a high-up of Islamabad Police told Amjad that Mughal was safe. “He is being interrogated and will return soon,” he had assured.

But neither did Mughal return nor was an FIR was lodged. “Police kept dilly- dallying the matter,” he said.

Police registered a case only after the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED), which was set up by the government in 2010 and is headed by former SC judge Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, intervened and directed the police to do so.

Aabpara police registered a case on May 5 saying unidentified persons had kidnapped Mughal.

“Police say that we can now only pray to God,” said Amjad, adding that Mughal had no connection with any organisation and was only focused on his teaching in the seminary.

“A few days after Mughal went missing his brother-in-law was picked up from Faisalabad and was brought to the Industrial Area Police Station in Islamabad in a vehicle with an official number plate. He was interrogated about the calls he made to Mughal but was left back in Faisalabad within 48 hours,” said Amjad.

The Bolan pick-up van (NZ-289, white colour), Mughal was riding in, is also missing.

“Even if there is a case or allegation against him, it should be made public. The family should know, and the inquiry should be held in a court of law,” he said.

Mughal hails from Faisalabad, has six children, the oldest being 15. The family still lives at the seminary.

Amjad said if he was being interrogated by the authorities, the interrogation should be complete in five months or at least the family should be informed about it.

Aabpara police said they were investigating the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2016.