Mysteriously missing: Police accused of illegally detaining five teenagers

Family questions why police have yet to register a case if the suspects are wanted for robbery.

MARDAN:

The families of five missing teenage boys have accused Mardan police of illegally detaining their offspring.

“If the children were involved in a robbery then why have the police not registered an FIR against them,” questioned one of the parents at a news conference at Mardan Press Club on Friday. “Now the police are saying that they have not kept the children captive.”

Hoti Police SHO Inam Jan, ASI Latif Khan, police official Ishfaq Ahmed and Constable Wahid reportedly raided houses on Akbar Road in Hoti on July 26, said the parents. They added police arrested five teenagers, Fawad Hussain, Noorul Hussain, Ammad, Mudasir and Abdul Qadir. All the boys are between the ages of 16 and 19.

The SHO is also accused of demanding Rs1 million from the families of the detained children and threatening them from different phone numbers.

The parents appealed to the chief minister, governor and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to provide justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2014.