During the course of proceedings of a suo motu case for the recovery of Hassan Sharjeel, the missing son of Shakeel Turabi, a Islamabad-based journalist, Inspector General Capital Police Kaleem Imam informed the three-member bench headed by the chief justice that Hassan Sharjeel was a suspect of the January 4 Parade Lane attack in the cantonment area Rawalpindi.
Kaleem Imam also informed the bench that a joint investigation team (JIT), comprising officials of ISI, IB and capital police, has been formed to investigate whether Hassan Sharjeel was kidnapped or volunteered himself for Jihad and disappeared.
He informed the bench that Shakeel Turabi received a letter at his residence on Wednesday from a person named as Sakhi Afghani stating that Hassan Sharjeel is in good health and in the safe custody of a person named Gul Raziq in Afganistan’s Khost province.
Sakhi Afghani noted that he was a driver of Gul Raziq and that he had kidnapped Hassan Sharjeel from Islamabad on January 5, the police chief maintained. Sakhi also claimed that he is a resident of Khost and presently living in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency.
Two telephone numbers were given in the letter. Despite repeated calls on one number – which is of district Bannu – no-one responded, the IG said.
When the second number was tried, a man talking in Pushto received the call. By the help of a translator, the man said his name is Gul Muhammad and that he is a resident of Afghanistan’s Lugar province.
On being contacting again, the man said that he is a resident of Kandahar and that he did not know anyone named Sakhi Afghani or Gul Raziq. “Somebody has given you a wrong number,” the police chief quoted the man as saying.
The IG submitted that the JIT has got a lead and is trying to locate persons mentioned in the letter, adding that, in this regard, they have established contacts in Swat, Waziristan and the entire tribal area for the recovery of Hassan Sharjeel.
Later the CJP summoned DIG capital police, Bin Yamin, at the rostrum, who informed the bench that Hassan Sharjeel disappeared from Rawalpindi. However, the capital police are working hard to locate Hassan.
The CJP, while adjourning the case till July 9, directed the capital police to produce the child at the next hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2010.
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