No clue yet: CJP orders quick recovery of Sindh top judge’s son

Ovais’s kidnapping caused sense of insecurity among judges

HYDERABAD/ KARACHI/ DADU: It has been six days since the son of Sindh’s top judge was kidnapped from an upscale neighbourhood of Karachi, but law enforcers remain clueless despite a Sindh-wide operation to locate him. The chief justice of Pakistan directed top provincial bureaucrats and law enforcement officials on Saturday to rescue Advocate Ovais Ali Shah, the son of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

Advocate Ovais was whisked away by masked gunmen from outside Agha’s Superstore in the Clifton area on June 20.

CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali met with Sindh Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Home Secretary Sohail Anwar Sial, IGP AD Khowaja and Rangers Director-General Maj Gen Bilal Akbar at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry. Criminal Investigation Agency DIG Sultan Khawaja, who is heading the investigation team, also attended the meeting.

Insiders told The Express Tribune that the officials briefed Justice Jamali about the kidnapping of Advocate Ovais and the measures taken so far by the Sindh government for his rescue.

The top judge expressed his dissatisfaction over the police report presented by IGP Khowaja on the kidnapping, which remains a mystery despite the lapse of five days. Sources said the CJP believed if the police had taken immediate action, then the situation would have been different.

Voicing serious concern over the police performance, Justice Jamali directed them to make concerted measures to ensure the safe recovery of the missing lawyer. He noted the kidnapping had sent a wrong message to the public and caused a sense of insecurity among the judges and their families.

The CJP directed the Sindh chief secretary to employ all resources to improve the law and order in the province, especially in Karachi.

Sources said the DG Rangers said efforts were afoot to rescue Advocate Ovais and some suspects had been taken into custody. Justice Jamali ordered all the officials to speed up their operations and rescue the son of Sindh’s top judge as soon as possible.

Crackdowns continue

Hours after the meeting, sources in the Sindh police claimed to have found some clues in Dadu district – about 300 kilometres north of Karachi. Sources told The Express Tribune that police have found clues of a Dadu-based facilitator named Nazeer Bhand. However, police have not named any suspects officially.

Sources claimed the tracker signals of the vehicle in which Advocate Ovais was driven away were also last detected in Dadu. The car remains untraced.

Hyderabad DIG Khadim Hussain Rind is reportedly leading the raids in search of the suspect across one of the largest districts of Sindh geographically. The Dadu SSP, Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch and Jamshoro SSP Tariq Wilayat are also involved in the massive search for the lawyer.

Raids continued for the third day on Saturday in both Dadu and Jamshoro districts. All entry and exit points have been manned, and mountainous regions of the districts are being combed.

Police sources claimed around 200 people had been detained for questioning in three days mostly from Dadu, most of them were released later.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.