The petitioner waited for four-and-a-half months hoping that the police, agencies or the Missing Persons Commission would provide some relief, before filing a habeas corpus petition before the IHC he added. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has directed the ministries of interior and defence to formally submit replies in a case pertaining to the ‘enforced disappearance’ of a man. The bench also directed ministry officials to cooperate with the police investigation officer.
Justice Athar Minallah on Tuesday directed Ministry of Interior Deputy Secretary Azhar Amin Chaudhry and Ministry of Defence Legal Deputy Director Mansoor Ahmed to formally submit replies after they informed the court that they were ready to present the same.
The officials had appeared before the court in compliance with a court order directing them to submit a detail report on the incident. The court adjourned after issuing the directions.
Petitioner Mahera Sajid, through her counsel Umer Gilani, has alleged that her husband, Sajid Mehmood, was “abducted from their home in F-10/1 amid
circumstance which strongly suggests that this is a case of enforced disappearance.”
She has made the defence and interior secretaries, the inspector-general of the Islamabad Police, the IB, ISI, and Military Intelligence chiefs, and the Shalimar police SHO respondents in the case.
The petition seeks the recovery of Mehmood, a father of three who went missing from his residence on March 14, 2016.
Gilani said that around sunset on March 14, eight men barged into the petitioner’s house in Sector F-10/1 and took Sajid away.
He said that some of the men were wearing black police commando uniforms, while others were in plainclothes.
He said that the men had come in one SUV and two pickup trucks, adding that they searched the house for around 20 minutes before taking some of the family’s computers, the couple’s academic documents and property records, and the keys and registration book of the petitioner’s car.
The incident was witnessed by numerous neighbours, he added. “Both the petitioner’s account and the affidavits of neighbours strongly implicate state agencies,” Gilani said.
The petitioner waited for four-and-a-half months hoping that the police, agencies or the Missing Persons Commission would provide some relief, before filing a habeas corpus petition before the IHC he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2016.
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