Coming forward: ‘Missing’ child’s father to petition court for custody

Abdullah was handed over to Edhi Foundation by prime suspect in his mother’s murder case.

KARACHI: The father of the ‘missing’ child, who was handed over on May 25 to the Edhi Foundation in Clifton, vowed to approach the court to gain custody of his son.

Four-year-old Abdullah was handed over to Edhi Centre on the night of May 25 by a person who identified himself as Rizwan Ayaz Khan, saying that he found the child at Do Darya. Abdullah’s father, Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, approached the police on Sunday and requested them to grant him custody of his son. “I am Abdullah’s father and I have the right to get his custody,” said Iqbal. “I will approach the court today [Monday] to get my son’s custody,” he added. Police officials confirmed that Abdullah is Iqbal’s son. “It has been confirmed that he [Abdullah] is his [Iqbal’s] son,” said investigation officer inspector Irshan Karim. “But we cannot hand the boy over to him until the completion of all the formalities.” The officer said that the family of Iqbal’s former wife, Haleema, has also confirmed that Iqbal is the father of Abdullah.



He said that Haleema’s murder case has been solved but the police are still looking for Rizwan, who is the prime suspect in the case and is still absconding.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2016.