Missing Indian: Counsel asked to explain why Nehal was in Pakistan

PHC asks how Nehal Hamid Ansari entered without valid documents.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the counsel of missing Indian national Nehal Hamid Ansari to submit his client’s record and explain how the New Delhi resident managed to enter Pakistan without proper documents. He was asked to explain who Ansari came to meet and for what purpose.

The order was issued by the bench of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan on Thursday while hearing a petition against Ansari’s disappearance. The Indian national’s family said he had been missing since November 2012.

Shakil Asif told the court on Thursday his client entered Afghanistan, but later came to Kohat in November 2012. Late one night, Ansari went missing from his hotel. He added a joint investigation team conducted a thorough probe in this case.

Deputy Attorney General Manzoor Khan Khalil informed the court that all agencies—except the Military Intelligence which needed more time—had submitted their reports in the case. Granting an extension to MI, the bench ordered petitioner Zeenat Shehzadi to explain how Ansari managed to enter the country without proper documents and specify the purpose of his tour. Shehzadi has been given the power of attorney by Ansari’s mother. The next date of hearing was fixed for March 24.

On January 28, reports submitted to the PHC showed that ISI and the Federal Ministry of Interior denied arresting Ansari who disappeared from Kohat in November 2012. On September 8, 2014 the division bench of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan was informed that a joint investigation team completed its report and revealed that the missing Indian national stayed at a hotel in Kohat for a certain period. He reserved a room through a fake CNIC before going missing after midnight.

During the previous hearing, Asif pointed out to the bench that the JIT report stated a man named Hamza made a reservation at Palwasha Hotel near the Kohat bus stand at Rs300 for the night. He showed himself as an Islamabad resident.

Asif added the JIT questioned the owner and manager of the hotel. They revealed the person in question left his room around midnight. According to the investigation officer, the Indian national was subsequently picked by a police rider squad and his whereabouts remained unknown since.  The Karak district police officer headed the investigation team.

The petition stated Nehal Hamid Ansari, who was the president of the Rotary Club in New Delhi, had come to Afghanistan to get a job in the aviation industry. During his stay in the neighbouring country, he developed relations with a woman resident of Kohat through social media.

Ansari left India for Kabul on November 4, 2012, on a 90-day tourist visa and promised to return within a week. He kept in touch with his family for a week before ultimately disappearing. The now missing person failed to secure a job with an Indian airline at the time and had gone to Afghanistan in the hope of finding employment.

The petitioner earlier sent an application to the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court, which forwarded the case to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in March 2014. In April last year, the commission directed the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs department to constitute a joint investigation team to trace Ansari.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2015.