Court asks daughter of accused to stay in Karachi

The girl moved SHC against FIA officials who stopped her from leaving for UK.

KARACHI: The hearing of a constitutional petition filed by a girl who was prevented from leaving the country by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was adjourned till January 18 on Friday by a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC).

The statement of petitioner Ayeman Farooq was earlier recorded by a three-member team of the FIA, which was headed by Deputy Director (DD) Syed Israr Ali before the SHC registrar.

She moved the court against FIA officials, posted at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, who prevented her from boarding the plane to the United Kingdom, where she is studying. They also confiscated her travel and other documents.

The FIA said they detained her to question her about her father, Feroz Aslam, who has been accused in a fraud case and is in hiding. In her statement, Ayeman denied that she had any knowledge about her family, including her father, mother Nusrat Parveen and brothers, Asad Feroz and Shumail Feroz.

She told the FIA that her family has no property in Pakistan. “I came to know of the alleged foul play by my father, who is a banker, when I came to court against FIA officials,” she stated. Later the registrar handed over his report to the bench. To a question by the bench, Ayeman replied that she was being sent abroad by her maternal uncle. She said that she used to live in Karachi but for the last six months, she has been living with her uncle in Islamabad. The FIA deputy director told the court that the FIA has taken her statement and she may be allowed to travel as a free person now.

It was at this point in the case that the alleged victims of fraud, who were also present in the court, objected and accused the girl of lying. She is misguiding the FIA investigators and is giving a statement tutored to her by her lawyer, they said.

When the bench asked the persons who defrauded them, they replied ‘her father’. They protested that if the girl was allowed to leave, the victims who were cheated of millions of rupees will be left high and dry.

It was her presence in Pakistan that would force her father to surrender before the authorities, the alleged victims submitted. “She is being given the best education from our money,” claimed one of the victims, who allegedly lost Rs3 million because of Feroz Aslam.

The court perused the case papers, petition and statement of the petitioner and in view of opposition to the petition by over a dozen victims of alleged fraud to the tune of Rs50 million, the court asked the petitioner whether she can stay for a few days and if she had any relatives in Karachi. She replied that she could stay with her paternal uncle. The bench then adjourned further proceedings till January 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2011.