These officials, the reply stated, have been directed to update the ministry if they have “exhausted all resources and options for tracing the missing person and there is no lacuna left in searching,” adding that the chief commissioner has also been requested to assign the provincial task force to trace the abductee. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: While denying any involvement in the abduction of a capital’s resident, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) suggested that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) direct the petitioner to approach the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to trace the missing person.
In its reply submitted to the IHC, the ministry said that 300 cases of “missing persons” have already been transferred by the apex court to the commission in 2016, and that the petitioner can avail an alternate remedy from the commission formed to trace the “missing persons.”
IHC directs interior ministry to submit report within a week
“It can conclusively be said that the Ministry of Interior is not involved at all in the arrest of Sajid Mehmood,” MoI deputy secretary Azhar Amin Chaudhry stated in a report submitted on Friday before Justice Athar Minallah of IHC.
Ironically, after waiting for months hoping that the police, the agencies or the missing persons’ commission would provide some relief, petitioner Mahera Sajid — through her counsel Umer Gilani — had filed a habeas corpus petition before the IHC seeking recovery of her husband. Mehmood, a software engineer who ran a small IT company in the capital along with his wife, had allegedly been abducted from his home in F-10/1 on the evening of March 14. Gilani had stated that he had been picked up “amidst circumstances which strongly suggest that this is a case of enforced disappearance.”
Friday’s reply of the interior ministry came after the court had repeatedly directed it to submit a report that it had made as much efforts to recover the software engineer as was made in the cases of more ‘privileged’ citizens.
The reply stated that of the 15 departments working under the ministry, only Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Islamabad police have powers to arrest or detain an accused.
Enforced disappearance case: Interior, defence ministries to reply in next hearing
“These two agencies have confirmed that Mehmood has neither been arrested nor detained by them,” the reply said, adding that the Punjab Rangers too have confirmed that they haven’t arrested the missing man. Giving details of their efforts, the ministry said that they had constituted a joint inquiry committee comprising FIA, police and ICT members which wrote letters to the chief commissioner, ICT and SSP Operations.
These officials, the reply stated, have been directed to update the ministry if they have “exhausted all resources and options for tracing the missing person and there is no lacuna left in searching,” adding that the chief commissioner has also been requested to assign the provincial task force to trace the abductee.
In this regard, Islamabad SSP told the ministry that they have formed a special investigation team. Curiously, the ministry subsequently requested the court to dismiss the petition.
Following the reply, the court directed the petitioner’s counsel to file a reply on the report.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2016.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ