Missing person case : Relatives allowed to file FIR against police

Counsel says father once told Aminul Haq was not longer alive.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday allowed relatives of a missing person to register an FIR against police officers who picked him three years ago, after which his whereabouts remained unknown.

The division bench of PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Roohul Amin allowed the brothers of the missing person to file the case. It was hearing a petition filed by Fazal Khaliq through his counsel, Altaf Khan.

When the hearing started, Altaf Khan told the bench Khaliq’s son, Aminul Haq, a resident of Battagram, Charsadda, was picked up from his house on August 2, 2013 by a police team led by DSP Shah Nawaz Khan.

The counsel said the police did not register a case against him and was unwilling to reveal the reason for his detention. Altaf Khan said Aminul Haq’s brother, Fahimul Haq, was also arrested after two days on August 2, 2013. “However, he was released after the petitioner brought the case to the PHC.”

Whereabouts unknown

The counsel said the former Peshawar city police officer once told the petitioner that Aminul Haq was dead and they should give up on their efforts.

Additional Advocate General Qaiser Ali Shah said police filed an affidavit in which it expressed ignorance over Aminul Haq’s custody. Therefore, he added it could not be ascertained whether the missing person was dead or alive.

After hearing the arguments, the bench allowed the petitioner to file an FIR against the police officers if they
so wished.

Acquitted

The bench also disposed of the petition of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leader Haji Ghulam Ali after the Ehtesab Commission submitted in writing that it completed all enquiries against him.

When the hearing commenced on a petition filed through Qazi Jawwad Ihsanullah, Deputy Prosecutor General Zahid Aman said the Ehtesab Commission had initiated an enquiry against Ali for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

He said investigation revealed the assets were justified and legal.

Therefore, the commission ended all enquiries against him. The bench disposed of the petition after hearing the arguments.

Jawwad said the National Accountability Bureau had also launched an enquiry against the petitioner in 2001, charging him with accumulating assets worth Rs315 million which was beyond his known source of income.

NAB had accused him of possessing property in the names of 12 front men or relatives, including his sons, who were minors at the time and not earning.

He was also accused of possessing luxury vehicles and accounts in the name of his two sons in Muslim Commercial Bank which amounted to Rs1.28 million.

Besides, he was suspected of keeping property worth millions in Qissa Khwani, Shadeen Serai.

However, he was acquitted by an accountability court in the corruption reference and the PHC upheld the lower court’s ruling.

Ehtesab Commission started an enquiry against him in the same reference and issued a call up notice. However, after months of enquiry, it informed the court all enquiries had been wound up.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2016.