SHC chief justice’s son goes missing in Karachi

Advocate Ovais Ali last seen in Karachi's Clifton area; police begin snap checking

KARACHI: The son of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC) mysteriously went missing outside a super store in an upscale neighbourhood of the metropolis on Monday amid fears he might have been kidnapped.

Advocate Ovais Ali Shah, the son of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was last seen at Agha’s Super Market in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) around noon, according to DIG South Munir Sheikh.

Advocate Ovais’s cellphone has been switched off since. DIG Sheikh said police were informed about the incident around 9:15pm and subsequently an investigation was launched.



CCTV footage aired by Express News showed Advocate Ovais shopping in the super store. A team of police forensic experts obtained fingerprints from Advocate Ovais’s car parked outside the super store.

A TV channel quoted eyewitnesses as saying that when Advocate Ovais came out of the super store, four masked gunmen got down from a white-colour car bearing police registration number and intercepted him. Initially, Advocate Ovais put up resistance, but then they overpowered him and whisked him away.

Following the incident, police started snap checking in the city as well as at all its entry and exit points.



Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad took notice of the incident. They directed the law enforcement agencies to use all available resources to recover Advocate Ovais.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal directed IGP Allah Dino Khowaja to recover Advocate Ovais at the earliest. Subsequently, the IGP visited the SHC chief justice’s residence and informed him about initial inquiry.



Advocate Ovais, a lawyer of the SHC, is a member of the Sindh Bar Council and the Sindh High Court Bar Association. A lawyer of original side, Advocate Ovais was currently pleading around 90 cases in the SHC.

SHCBA's president demanded that the government ensure early recovery of Advocate Ovais. "The lawyers’ community and the SHCBA urges the government to make all-out efforts to locate and recover Advocate Ovais," he added.