In a court hearing for a habeas corpus petition for the recovery of Hafiz Tahir Mehmood, the secretary of the Ministry of Interior Affairs informed the court that there were 15 agencies under the ministry’s control but all had denied that the missing teacher was in their custody.
The chief justice then sought a report from the ISI director general by August 24; the agency falls under the Ministry of Defense. The court directed a deputy attorney general to ensure the submission of the ISI’s reply.
Moreover, the home secretary was ordered once again to file a reply.
Previously, he had been ordered to do so by Friday, but had failed to comply.
Parveen Akhter of Toba Tek Singh had filed the petition, stating that on July 9, 2010, 18 to 20 people in plainclothes, purportedly belonging to some intelligence agencies, had raided her house and detained everybody present. They had tortured the entire family and taken away her son Hafiz Tahir Mehmood, a lecturer at Islamia College, Jhang, along with two guests, Usman Gujjar and Javed Anwar.
The intruders, she said, had introduced themselves as secret agency personnel and refused to disclose any reason for their actions.
They also took all of Hafiz Tahir’s belongings, including his passport and credit cards. She said that he had not been produced before any court of law and his whereabouts remained a mystery.
She said that on July 27, she was informed through a telephone call that her son had lost his mind while in custody.
She also expressed fears that her son might be killed in a fake police encounter, since that kind of practice is endemic.
She prayed to the court to ensure her son’s recovery and liberty, as he was not involved in any illegal activities.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2010.
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