Court hearing: Missing constable raises question of govt’s responsibilities

SHC gives govt two weeks to decide if it will employ his brother.

KARACHI: In 2004, Constable Abrar Ahmed Malik went on assignment and was last seen at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. His case, taken to court by his mother Munni Begum, highlights the question: what does the government do if one of its functionaries goes missing?

Indeed, this was on the mind of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam as he grilled Additional Advocate General Miran Muhammad Shah on Friday.

If a government servant goes missing, does he lose his job or is his family looked after, asked the judge.

Munni Begum and her family, who live in Umerkot, fell on hard times after her son went missing, her lawyer said. But requests to the police department to give her other son a job have gone unheard.

The deputy attorney general, representing the Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence, placed on the record a letter in which these agencies have denied custody of PC Malik. Despite their best efforts, they have failed to trace him.

The bench noted that the family was facing financial difficulties and it was the responsibility of the police department and the government to take care of them until PC Malik is found. It ordered the Sindh government to take a decision on employing his brother within two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2012.