SHC asks interior secretary to submit judicial commission report this month

Shamim Khalid's wife said he was picked up by law enforcers on July 5, 2011

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the interior secretary to submit a report of the judicial commission constituted by the federal government to investigate the missing persons' cases.

Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who headed the bench, also instructed the secretary to depute a senior officer, who will submit the report in court on October 30.

The direction came on a petition seeking whereabouts of a Karachi Water and Sewerage Board accountant, Shamim Khalid, who is missing. Khalid is said to be involved in the high-profile murder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's Dr Imran Farooq in London in 2010.

Three months after the high-profile murder, Beena Khalid, a resident of Karachi, went to court claiming her husband, Shamim Khalid, had been allegedly detained by the law enforcers. According to her, Khalid went to withdraw money from an ATM at Malir Halt, when law enforcers allegedly took him away in two cars bearing official registration number plates on June 5, 2011.

During the course of hearings, police officials disclosed that Khalid was wanted in connection with the MQM leader's murder.

Task force

On Thursday, advocate Faisal Siddiqui, who is assisting the court as Amicus Curiae, said that the federal government had formed a special task force to deal with the missing persons' cases and added that a tribunal had also been constituted. He suggested that the task force may be asked to submit its suggestions and recommendations in this regard.

Joint investigation team

DSP Abdul Majeed Abbasi said a third joint investigation team (JIT) had been constituted to decide the case regarding the disappearance of the petitioner's husband. He sought time to submit report of the JIT. Abbasi added that information had also been obtained from local reporters, who had filed reports about the alleged arrest of the missing person from Jinnah International Airport premises.

The officer said a reporter, Agha Khalid, claimed that he had received information about Shamim Khalid's arrest from a source at the KWSB but he could not disclose any names. Another reporter, whom the officer did not name, said he had received information about the arrest from news published in the London Daily Post on August 27, 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2014.