Contempt notice against FC chief withdrawn

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday withdrew the contempt notice issued earlier to Inspector General (IG) of Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid.

SC had issued a contempt notice to the official earlier this month for his failure to appear before the bench and produce the ‘missing’ persons in the court.

The bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk heard the Balochistan law and order case and a set of petitions about the recovery of ‘missing’ persons on Thursday.

The bench withdrew the contempt notice after the Balochistan FC chief Major General Shahid appeared before the court. His counsel, Irfan Qadir, stated in the court that due to his client’s ailment he was unable to appear earlier.

He was issued a contempt of court notice by the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on December 5 for not appearing despite the repeated orders of the apex court.



Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, a member of the bench, asked the IG FC how he would defend allegations of the captivity of ‘missing’ persons. The two-star general Ijaz Shahid replied that the perception that the FC is involved in the abduction of ‘missing’ persons was wrong. He termed the allegations baseless.  He apprised the bench about the production of Koh Khan, a missing person who was produced by the police from Quetta and not by the FC. He said the allegation against six FC personnel was proved to be wrong as Koh Khan was produced by the police.

The court directed the IG FC to submit on the next hearing a comprehensive report over the FC’s involvement in the matter of forced disappearances.

The apex court will take up the matter again on January 15.


Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2013.