Missing person reunites with family – thanks to SC

Umer Mahmood is back home but reluctant to share details of the ordeal.

ISLAMABAD:

A suo motu action by the apex court finally has some concrete results to show for itself.

After allegedly being in the custody of intelligence agencies for the last six days, Umer Mahmood reunited with his family on Friday night.

On the complaint of Umer’s father, Mahmood Ahmad Khan, the chief justice took suo motu notice and directed the Islamabad Inspector-General of police (IGP) to submit a report of the incident on March 17.

The chief justice also ordered him to recover Umar and present him before the apex court on March 19.  On the court’s notice, Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq is also to appear for the hearing on Monday.

Advocate Tariq Asad, counsel for Umer, confirmed his safe return, saying that the family was reluctant to share details of the incident even with him as they were receiving threats from unknown people. Perhaps wanting to avoid any interaction with the media as a result, their cell phones were also switched off on Saturday.

On Friday, Umer’s counsel had informed a two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, that the only ‘crime’ his client had committed was supplying food to demonstrators who were demanding the recovery of missing persons in Islamabad’s Parade Ground.

Though the Islamabad police were reluctant to register an FIR of the incident at first, IGP Bani Amin told The Express Tribune on Saturday that Umar’s recovery was possible due to the efforts of police.  However, Amin said that he would only share the details of Umar’s abduction with the apex court on Monday.

Umer’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 Umer was abducted by the agencies on March 10 near Orchard Scheme in Islamabad.

The letter suggested that Umer’s kidnapping followed the pattern of many other missing persons who were picked up: Men, driving two double-cabins with tinted glasses, a black corolla, a white Suzuki Baleno and a Suzuki Mehran picked up Umer in front of his father, mother and a younger brother.

Advocate Asad alleged that Umar, aged 24, was picked up by intelligence agencies because he used to serve food to families at the missing persons’ camp in front of the Parliament House.

Raja Irshad, counsel for the ISI and the Military Intelligence (MI), rejected the allegations, stating that the agencies were not involved in such abductions.

Irshad had said that it was ‘surprising’ that the agencies were always blamed, adding that Indian and Israeli spy networks were also active in Pakistan.

Umer’s father, however, told the court that when his son was picked up the family attempted to chase the vehicles but were stopped by agency officials at Rawalpindi’s Faizabad bridge, near ISI’s Hamza Camp.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.