In case linked to Dr Imran Farooq, SHC asks about cell phone data invasion

SHC orders for wife of missing water board man to be paid his salary.

KARACHI:

In a petition linked to Dr Imran Farooq’s murder, a court has asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to say how cell phone data could be shared with the authorities so that fundamental rights are not denied.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi were hearing a constitutional petition filed by Beena Khalid. She is the wife of a man named Khalid Shamim who worked as an accounts officer in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. She alleges that the law enforcement agencies have illegally detained him since January 6.

Khalid said that the family has no idea where he is. She annexed with her petition transcripts of news telecast by different channels and clippings from newspapers linking her husband’s arrest to the September 2010 assasination of Dr Imran Farooq, a central leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He was mugged and killed in London and the police there have yet to arrest his killers. The petitioner maintained that she was going with her husband on January 6 when they stopped at an ATM in Malir Colony. Men from the law-enforcing agencies in two cars, one with an official registration number, whisked him away in the presence of a number of people.

As the police and law-enforcement agencies named in her petition denied that they had custody of Khalid Shamim, the bench disapproved of their reply. It said that it did not intend to venture into sensitive areas but wanted for the court to be informed of Shamim’s arrest and custody if he is suspected of involvement in any crime. This would enable the court to pass appropriate orders.

The bench asked the deputy attorney general to collect information from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the frequent travel abroad by the missing water board employee. It also asked him to check with the Federal Investigation Agency, as it could provide a record of movement in and out of the country, the Inter-Services Intelligence and other federal agencies.

The bench also ordered the court’s Nazir to verify details and then pay Shamim’s salary to his family. It then adjourned the proceedings till November 22.

SHC puts off DHA residents’ petition

The same bench of Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi put off on Wednesday the hearing of a petition filed by scores of residents of DHA. They want to see the Darakshan police station and residences of senior police officers on terrorist hitlists to leave the neighbourhood. The bench ordered a repeat of notices to be issued to the officers named in the petition. They include the Sindh home secretary and inspector general of police. About 250 residents earlier and now over 600 residents filed an application which was converted into a constitutional petition by the chief justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2011.