Missing person case: Enforced disappearances on rise in capital, petitioner tells court

A woman has moved court over her husband’s ‘enforced disappearance’

ISLAMABAD: While challenging “enforced disappearance” of a man before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), his wife has alleged that the frequency of enforced disappearances in the federal capital has risen sharply over the last few months and her husband is only one of many victims.

Petitioner Mahera Sajid through her counsel Umer Gilani has alleged that her husband, Sajid Mehmood, was “abducted from their home in F-10/1 amidst circumstance which strongly suggests that this is a case of enforced disappearance.”

She has made the SHO of Shalimar Police Station, Inspector-General of Police, secretaries of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, DG Intelligence Bureau, Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate and the Military Intelligence.

The petition seeks recovery of Mehmood, an engineer by profession and a father of three girls, who went missing from his residence on March 14, 2016.

The counsel said that both husband and wife are IT professionals and run a small software export firm called QualityClix.

Gilani said that on March 14, at Maghrib prayer time, around eight men barged into their home in Street 29, F-10/1 and abducted Sajid.

He said that some of the men were wearing a black police uniform with the insignia “NO FEAR” inscribed on it, while others were in plain clothes.

Gilani said that the men had come in one land cruiser and two double cabin cars and after searching the house for around 20 minutes, they allegedly took some of the family’s computers with them.

The abductors also took away important documents, including the couple’s academic certificates and property records. They even took away the keys and registration book of petitioner’s car, the petition added.

The incident happened at a time when the street was abuzz with people and it was witnessed by numerous neighbors, he said

“Both the petitioner’s account and the affidavits of neighbours strongly implicate state agencies,” Gilani said.

After waiting for four and a half months hoping that the police, the agencies or the Missing Persons Commission would provide some relief, he said, the petitioner has filed a habeas corpus petition before the IHC.

The case is fixed for
August 3.

Notice issued to Lok Virsa executive director

The IHC on Tuesday issued notice to the executive director of the Lok Virsa after a former official challenged his dismissal and appointment of several others through an advertisement on Facebook page.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued notice to the executive director of the Lok Virsa Museum, Dr Fouzia Saeed, with directions to submit a reply by September 23rd.

Petitioner Muhammad Irshad, an ex-assistant in the administration department at the Lok Virsa since 2011, was dismissed from service on November 30, 2015.

Isrhad through his counsel Ali Murad challenged the decision as well as several new appointments through an advertisement on a Facebook page rather than advertising it in the newspapers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2016.