SHC orders missing lawyer’s recovery

The Sindh High Court ordered on Tuesday the immediate recovery of the missing lawyer, Advocate Muhib Ali Leghari, during the hearing of a petition concerning his alleged enforced disappearance from Hyderabad.

A Hyderabad circuit bench comprising Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon ordered the Hyderabad SSP to either recover and produce the missing lawyer before the court or appear in person with an explanation.

According to petitioner Etrat Batool, who is Leghari's wife, her husband was whisked away on September 4 in a double cabin and a white car. She claimed that she, along with her husband and children, had left their home to visit the city but when they reached Wanki Wasi link road, near Sahib Khan Chandio village, they were stopped.

"They alighted from their vehicles, stopped our motorcycle … and abducted the petitioner's husband," the court was told. Leghari is known for representing the families of missing persons in courts.

The petitioner's counsel, Sajjad Chandio, informed the court that his client had registered an FIR of the incident on the same day at Hatri police station.

"My husband was raising his voice for the release of missing persons and he received many threats warning him against getting involved in such activities," the petitioner said.

She prayed the court to order law enforcement agencies (LEA) to recover her husband and produce him before the court. She also sought action against those involved in her husband's disappearance.

Home and defence secretaries, intelligence officials, LEAs and police are nominated as respondents in the plea.

The SHC has issued notices to the deputy attorney general, Sindh additional advocate general and others, seeking their replies on September 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2020.