SHC disappointed over police failure in recovering missing children

All missing children must be traced as soon as possible, said the court

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) once again expressed disappointment over the performance of the Sindh Police and their inability to recover the remaining 17 missing children and directed the relevant authorities to trace all missing children as soon as possible.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, heard the pleas seeking the recovery of 18 children who had gone missing from different areas of Karachi. The police produced a recovered 14-year-old boy Hasnain, who was missing since four years. The Central Investigation Agency (CIA) Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) told the court that Hasnain stayed with a Hindu family for two years and later, a police officer kept him for two years.

The father of the boy said that Hasnain was beaten up by his stepmother, because of which he had left home. The bench, addressing the father, said that it seemed as if the police had brainwashed him to say this. "If the child is back on his own, why is the police taking the credit?"



''The court is very disappointed with the performance of the police,'' Justice Phulpoto remarked, adding that a large number of children are still missing and the police performance is zero.

The court ordered the police to trace remaining 17 missing children and adjourned the hearing.

Missing persons' case

The same bench directed the relevant authorities on Thursday to take concrete measures for the recovery of more than 50 missing persons.

The bench, hearing a set of petitions, seeking the recovery of missing persons ordered the police and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to recover them as soon as possible.

The wife of a missing citizen, Mushtaq alias Adil, crying before the bench, stated that her husband was missing since four months. "Our financial position is not stable and children have been compelled to live on hunger," she said.

She requested the court to recover Mushtaq and warned, "If Mushtaq is not recovered, I will commit suicide along with my children.'' The police informed the court that Mushtaq was wanted by the police but they had no clue about his whereabouts.

The court ordered the police and relevant authorities to take effective measures to recover the missing person and sought a report from the federal government pertaining to the disappearance of another citizen, Waqar Ahmed. The bench also sought a report from Sindh inspector-general of police (IGP) and others regarding the disappearance of Riyasatullah Khan.

The bench instructed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to be aware of the travel history of missing persons.

Zardari's case transfer

A detailed six-page order regarding the transfer of the mega money laundering case against Asif Zardari, others was released by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday.

According to the order, there was no confusion or complication in the transfer of case to Rawalpindi. The directives issued by the Supreme Court (SC) had clearly mentioned that the cases related to money laundering will be transferred to Islamabad. As per the SC verdict, all upcoming cases related to money laundering will be tried in Islamabad.

The verdict of the banking court was challenged by Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Anwar Majeed and others. They, however, failed to satisfy the SHC, hence their pleas were rejected.

According to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) sources, their senior leadership has decided to approach the SC where Zardari and others will file their appeals through Advocate Farooq H Naek.



PIA ATR planes

The SHC gave three weeks' time to the parties to submit their replies in the case regarding the failure of Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) ATR aircraft engines during the flight.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal, was hearing the case on Thursday in which the court expressed annoyance with PIA and aviation authorities for not submitting their replies. The court inquired why the ATR aircrafts faced so many accidents. The deputy attorney-general asked the court to grant him three weeks' time to submit replies. The court, accepting the request, adjourned the hearing.

The petitioner Iqbal Kazmi maintained in the plea that 55 planes met accidents in 60 years of PIA's history. About twenty of those accidents were due to the dysfunction of ATR planes' engines during a flight. An ATR aircraft, PK-661 crashed on December 7, 2017, in which 47 people including Junaid Jamshed died. An inquiry was conducted after the incident but its outcome is not known. Purchasing planes in poor condition and flying those means they are just playing with the lives of people. The civil aviation report has revealed horrifying facts about the accident of PK-661.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2019.