Illegal departure: Model’s twins still missing

Lawyer says Sophia Mirza is being pressed for out-of-court settlement.

LAHORE:

Security officials are yet to recover the twin daughters of the model/artist Sophia Mirza, who were illegally taken away by her former husband, while their passports were in their mother’s custody. The man, Umar Farooq, himself escaped from the country despite his name being on the exit control list (ECL).

Umar Farooq’s name was placed on the ECL on court orders in 2008. Ironically, law-enforcement agencies, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and police, deputed at major exit points across the country appeared to have helped him in his illegal departure from the country.

The Express Tribune learnt that Farooq got hold of a new passport while his original passport was in the court’s custody.

A case was registered against him vide FIR No.464/2009 after he left the country via Islamabad airport in connivance with FIA immigration staffers on August 23, 2009.

On August 14, 2009, he tried to leave for Dubai from Karachi, but he was offloaded from the aircraft just before its departure.

The girls’ mother had earlier registered a case against Umar Farooq in Police Station Race Coarse Lahore, accusing him of having abducted the two three-year-old girls.

Later, Sofia Mirza approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) and requested it to help her recover the children and cancel the passport of her former husband. She also sought help to put his name as well as those of her two daughters on the ECL to stop him from escaping abroad.

Interestingly, the Personal Identification Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) data showed only Umar Farooq leaving for Dubai and there was no record of the children travelling with him.

Interpol issued ‘red notices’ against the accused on FIA request. In July last year, FIA Director Hussain Asgher reached Dubai and is said to have arrested Umar Farooq and recovered the twin girls with the help of the local police, but the accused succeeded in getting bail from a local court.

Hussain Asgher told The Express Tribune that the main reason that the man had gotten bail and could not be brought back to the country was because a ministry concerned had intervened on his behalf.

During the previous hearing of the suo motu case held on March 28, the Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry expressed annoyance over FIA’s failure to recover the girls.

The chief justice said that FIA slackness was directly responsible for the case to remain unresolved. He snubbed FIA officials, asking them how the girls could have travelled without their passports.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Asma Jahangir, told the court that the interior ministry was pressing her client to strike an out-of-court settlement with her husband.

Before adjourning the hearing, the court summoned the interior secretary, asking him to submit a detailed report.

During a previous hearing, the bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had told the foreign ministry officials to discuss the matter with top ministry officials and order the Pakistan ambassador and other officials to cooperate with FIA to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th,  2011.