Abuse of power: IG admits police were misguided by PPP leader over arrest, apologises

Despite court orders, man was arrested, dragged to Khairpur.

KARACHI: Sindh’s top police officer has apologised in court for arresting the former son-in-law of an ex-MPA and said the police were misled that he was on the run in a criminal case.

On Friday, Inspector General Mushtaq Shah submitted a written reply before Justice Salman Hamid of the High Court of Sindh, saying that former MPA Zafar Iqbal Bilal had misled him about Fahad Rasool, who filed the petition that was being heard. Rasool was arrested despite a court order not to harass or arrest him. Rasool was married to the ex-MPA’s daughter.

The IGP along with Anti-Violent Crime Cell SP Ghulam Subhani tendered an unconditional apology. The former MPA Zafar Iqbal Bilal, who left the Pakistan Muslim League-F for the Pakistan Peoples Party, however remained elusive despite a contempt-of-court notice.

The two police officers, who were named in the petition, also assured the court that they would submit an undertaking, assuring that Rasool would not be arrested in any case. Accepting the apologies, the court adjourned the proceedings till February 14.

The controversy revolves round a family dispute as Fahad Rasool’s wife left his home along with their two children, aged 4 and 2. Despite court orders, she took them out of Pakistan upon which the SHC’s then Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany issued red warrants for her and yellow warrants for the two children through Interpol.

Rasool went to court after he was booked in a false case, dragged to Khairpur only to be returned to Karachi after a 22-hour ordeal as the police there refused to take custody.

Rasool is the owner of a private security agency. According to him, his former father-in-law had him booked in five different FIRs, including once registered at the A Section police station in Khairpur.

Rasool went to the Sindh High Court to have these cases thrown out. He was exempted from prosecution in the FIRs and appearing in the cases until a court decided whether to quash them or not.

However, despite these court orders, he was picked up on January 8 this year. Rasool alleges that the orders for his arrest were passed by the IG. He was taken by a police team led by an ASI Zahid. According to Rasool, ex-MPA Zafar Iqbal Bilal was passing orders to the raiding police team.

The ASI disclosed to Rasool that AVCC SP Ghulam Subhani had ordered his arrest on the directives of the IGP. The police were told that Rasool was on the run in a criminal case.

After he was picked up, Rasool says he was taken to the AVCC cell at the police’s Garden headquarters. From there he was taken to Khairpur in a rented Corolla car and produced before the A Section police.

But the A Section police refused to take him into custody. They said that they had already told an SHC bench, in writing, that the FIR filed against Rasool was false. The Khairpur police didn’t want to take Rasool also because they knew that the SHC was already exempted from appearing in the case.

The Karachi police team had no choice but to bring Rasool back, and after 23 hours in illegal confinement and in defiance of court orders, he was released.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2012.