SHC hauls up defence officer over missing man

The SHC has directed the Defence Ministry legal officer to appear in person.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed a Defence Ministry legal officer to appear in person and explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for defying the court’s orders issued on a petition about the disappearance of a former army soldier.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the Deputy Attorney General to communicate the order to the officer. Petitioner, Ms Jama, a resident of Umerkot, approached the court to seek help finding her son Suleman Uraiser. She impleaded the secretaries of the federal interior and defense ministries, the MI DG and Pakistan Army’s Agency 945 as respondents.

Her lawyer submitted that Uraiser was working as a sepoy at the Corps V Sindh and was posted in Wana, South Waziristan, but returned home after leaving his job. He opened a tea shop in Umerkot. On December 9, 2009, around 10 men introducing themselves as members of Agency 945 took Uraiser away and he has been missing since. She prayed the court to order the recovery of her son.

On Friday, DAG Mian Khan Malik requested time to communicate the matter to the officer concerned. The SHC division bench ordered: “Let the officer appear in court alongwith the relevant record”. It then adjourned to August 10.

Earlier on, the interior secretary filed an affidavit, stating that the missing man was not in the custody of the FIA, Pakistan Rangers and Islamabad police.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2010.