Police officers, defence ministry legal expert appear before Justice Athar Minallah. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Justice Athar Minallah directed the litigants to complete their arguments on fixed date in the plea moved by Mahera Sajid, wife of the missing person for recovery of her husband.
In Friday’s hearing, SSP Hassan Ali, SHO Shalimar Abdul Razaq, Ministry of Defence Director Legal Falk Naz appeared before the court in compliance with earlier court orders and submitted progress report before the bench.
Nearly nine months after he was picked up from Sector F-10 in March 2016, law enforcement personnel told IHC in January that the missing software engineer appeared to be the victim of an enforced disappearance.
Over seven months ago, this was stated in a report submitted by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the disappearance of Mehmood, before IHC.
Justice Minallah, at that time had noted: “The relevant state organs have submitted a report to the effect that in their opinion, it probably is a case of enforced disappearance.”
“The court expects that the JIT shall ensure that the citizen who is alleged to have been missing for a considerable time would be recovered before the next date [to hear the case] is fixed,” the justice had stated.
SP (Investigation) Muhammad Ilyas, who headed the JIT, explained that the team believes the case fell into the category of enforced disappearance because of the “eyewitness accounts” and “no evidence to the contrary”.
Haider Imtiaz, the counsel for petitioner Mahera Sajid – the wife of the missing software engineer – contended that the JIT’s findings had vindicated the consistent stance of the petitioner. Imtiaz said that now there was no option left for the state but to produce the missing person before the court, in accordance with law.
While appreciating the JIT’s efforts in investigating the case, Justice Minallah directed the JIT to ensure that the missing person is recovered and produced in court in the next hearing.
However, for seven months the victim remains missing.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2017.
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