Illegal detention: SHC issues notice over detention of KCCI member

Petitioner claims his sons were taken away from their workplace by law enforcers.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices to the defence secretary, the provincial home secretary, the provincial chiefs of the police and Rangers and others on a petition seeking the whereabouts of a member of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and his two brothers who were allegedly taken away by the law enforcers.

Headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, the bench issued the notices on a petition against the alleged illegal detention of the businessman and his brothers at the hands of the police and paramilitary troops.

The victims' father, who is a retired soldier of the Frontier Constabulary (FC), said that he was doing business of imported shoes in Karachi, but had suffered losses worth over Rs1.8 million after unknown miscreants had set his warehouse on fire in 2012.

Following the incident, he said that he had obtained permission from the government to keep licenced arms and had installed closed circuit cameras for security. Meanwhile, an unknown caller from Dara Adam Khel, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, had demanded Rs3 million in extortion. An FIR in this regard was registered at the Pirabad Colony police station.

On August 26, six personnel of the law enforcement agencies arrived at the work place, from where they took away the petitioner's three sons, Shaheed Noor, Noor Islam and Asif Khan, along with the CCTV system in the presence of the security guards, whose licenced weapons were also taken away, the lawyer told the judges.

The lawyer said that one of the detainees, Noor Islam, is a member of the KCCI, adding that the law enforcers had detained all of them without any reason or justification. The court was pleaded to order the respondent ministries to disclose the whereabouts of the detainees and produce them in the court of law.

On Friday, the judges conducted the initial hearing and subsequently issued notices to the respondents to file their comments through their law officers.

Extra-judicial killing

The same bench appointed DIG Abdul Khalid Sheikh to supervise an investigation into the alleged 'fake encounter' of a man by the law enforcers. The official was directed to complete the investigation within four weeks and submit the report to the SHC through its Member of Inspection Team.

The petitioner, Khuda Bux, said that his son, Nauroz Khan Chandio, had come to the City Courts from Thatta for the hearing of a case against him.

He alleged that the personnel of the paramilitary force, assisted by the police, drove him away from the City Courts Gate No. 3 and later the media reported that he was killed in an alleged encounter with the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2014.