Missing persons: 'Silence' befalls family as missing son returns home

Canada return Omar Mehmood Khan was abducted by the agencies on March 10 near Orchid Scheme in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court’s (SC) suo motu notice on missing person cases yielded yet another recovery. Omar Mehmood, returned home after 'disappearing' for six days in agency detention, his counsel informed the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Omar’s family, who recently returned from Canada, had informed the Human Rights Cell of the apex court about his disappearance through a letter. They wrote that Omar was abducted by the agencies on March 10 near the Orchid Scheme in Islamabad.

On the complaint of his father, Mehmood Ahmad Khan, a three member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the incident and directed Inspector General of Police Islamabad and Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq to submit a report of the incident by March 17 and present the abductee before the court on March 19.

The family’s counsel, Advocate Tariq Asad, confirming Omer’s return, said that due to threats by unknown officials, the abductee’s family members were reluctant to share any details of the incident. The family was so scared, that they did not feel comfortable confiding the details of Omar's disappearance with their legal counsel. Out of fear, the family had switched off their cell phone.

Earlier during Friday’s hearing, Advocate Asad, the counsel for missing persons, had told the court that Omar was picked up by the intelligence agencies because he used to serve food to the families at the missing persons’ camp at D-Chowk (Islamabad’s Parade Ground) in front of the Parliament.


Talking to The Express Tribune, Inspector General (IG) Police Islamabad Bani Amin on Saturday said that Omar’s recovery was possible due to police’s efforts. Responding to a query, Amin said that he would share the details of Omar’s abduction before the SC on Monday.

It must be noted that initially the Islamabad police was reluctant to register the FIR of the incident.

The letter by Omar’s father had suggested that Omar was abducted in the same manner as used by agencies in picking up other missing persons. Men driving two double cabins with tinted glasses, a black Corolla, a white Suzuki Baleno and a Suzuki Mehran picked up the boy in front of his father, mother and a younger brother.

During Friday’s hearing of the 11 Adiala missing prisoners case, the CJ, addressing the AG and Raja Irshad, counsel for ISI and MI, said that this time a man was abducted right under the nose of the federal government.

Raja Irshad rejected the allegations, stating the military intelligence agencies were not involved in people going missing or being abducted, adding that it was amazing how the blame was being leveled against agencies. He said that India’s intelligence agency RAW and Israel’s Mossad were also active in Pakistan. Omer’s father had told the court that they had tried pursuing the vehicle at the time of the incident, but were stopped by the (agencies) officials at Faizabad Bridge Rawalpindi (near ISI’s Hamza Camp).
Load Next Story