Missing person case: SHC repeats summons to cellular service provider

The petitioner sought the release of her husband from illegal detention by a PN official.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday repeated its notice to the CEO of a private cellular service provider to appear in court with the record of a call allegedly made by a Pakistan Navy (PN) official to demand money for a missing person’s release.

Headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the bench passed this directive while hearing a petition seeking the release of a man from alleged unlawful detention by the PN official.

Qamaunnisa had taken the Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali, the SHO Malir City, the Pakistan Navy provost and the home secretary to court, accusing them of illegally detaining her husband, Muhammad Farooq.

She told the judges that Farooq, a resident of Malir’s Saddar Town, had left home for work on the morning of August 12. In the evening, a caller introducing himself as Ashraf made a call from Farooq’s cellphone number and demanded Rs250,000 for his release.

The petitioner alleged that she had tried to register a complaint at the Malir City police station, but her plea was ignored. She further said that the caller had told her to come to the Malir City police station at midnight, where the detainee was shown to her in an official PN vehicle.

The PN official, named Muhammad Rauf or Maroof, demanded that the petitioner pay the amount or face dire consequences, said the petitioner’s lawyer, Uzma. The lawyer pleaded to the court to order the police and PN officials to produce the detainee and register a FIR against them.

On the last date of the hearing, the judges had summoned an official from the service provider to appear in court with a record of the calls made from Farooq’s cellphone between August 11 and 15. However, neither did any official appear during Thursday’s proceedings, nor was any record of calls submitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2014.