Defence secy summoned in missing persons cases

LHC chief justice has directed the defence secretary to appear in person on August 27 in two missing-persons cases .

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court chief justice has directed the defence secretary to appear in person on August 27 in two missing-persons cases wherein he failed to file replies ordered by the court.

Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif also remarked that the ministry of defence appeared to have developed a habit of not taking seriously the directions of the court in missing-persons cases. Earlier, instead of filing replies, ministry’s legal affairs director, Lt Col Sarfaraz Khan, sought more time.

One of the cases being heard was filed by Parveen Akhtar seeking recovery of her son Hafiz Tahir Mahmood, a lecturer. She submitted that on July 9, 18 men in police uniforms and 12 in plainclothes forcibly entered her house in Toba Tek Singh and arrested her son and their relatives Muhammad Usman Gujjar and Javed Anwar, blindfolded them and took them away. She said the raiding party also took away Tahir’s passport, a radio set, his driving lisence, registration documents of a motorcycle, a photograph of her husband, photographs of Tahir’s wedding, CNICs and academic certificates of the entire family, an ATM card, ownership deed of family land, a .32 bore pistol and cheque books.

She said Tahir was a lecturer at Islamia College, Jhang Road.

She said some secret agency official had later called her by telephone to inform her that her son had become a mental patient. She said despite asking for him at several police stations, she had no clue about her son’s whereabouts. She said she feared that her son would be killed in a fake shootout with the police.

She pleaded that that she suffered from cancer as well as heart disease and would die if she continued to be distracted from her treatment by the absence of her son.

She prayed that the court issue directions for her son’s recovery, production in the court and release.

The second case was filed by Shazia Ramazan seeking recovery of her husband, Muzammal Ahmed. She said on July 28 some secret agency officials picked her husband from her residence in Faisalabad. The chief justice had directed the defence ministry to file its reply in this regard. However, on Tuesday, the ministry sought four more weeks to file its reply.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2010.