Whereabouts unknown: PHC orders police to produce missing child

Was son of a Kyrgyz woman who married resident of Swabi

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has expressed annoyance over the inability of the police to recover a child of a Kyrgyz woman. It has ordered the police to produce the boy before the court by April 26.

A bench, headed by Justice Nisar Hussain, was hearing a writ petition filed by Ayija through her lawyer Advocate Abdullah on Wednesday.

Custody battle

In 2005, Ayija married Muhammad Zeb, a resident of Swabi, and had three sons. When irreconcilable differences emerged between them, Zeb took the children away without informing her. Later, the Islamabad High Court ordered Ayija’s husband to ensure the children were reunited with their mother. Following the ruling, Zeb handed two of their children to Ayija, while their third child Muhammad Yousaf is still in his custody.

Hand in glove

Justice Hussain said the police appear to have close links with family of the respondent and are therefore not producing the child before the court.

During the hearing, police officials informed the bench they were trying to recover the child. However, they had been unable to trace his whereabouts so far. Members of a jirga, who were also present in the courtroom, also told the bench the child’s whereabouts were not known.

After hearing their statements, the bench expressed anger at the Mardan DPO and SHO of Yaqoobi police station, saying the police were deliberately not producing the child before the court.

Hussain said, “The child can be [produced] in court within two days if you perform your duty with honesty.”

The justice subsequently asked the police to produce the child before the court by April 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th,  2016.