Khalid Shamim case: Suspect’s wife asks court to stop authorities from extraditing him

Khalid Shamim is a key suspect in the murder of Dr Imran Farooq and was missing since 2011

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices on Monday to the federal authorities on a plea against the likely extradition of Khalid Shamim, a suspect in the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq, to the United Kingdom for interrogation.

A division bench, headed by Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, directed them to file their replies in this regard by July 2.

The two judges had taken up an urgent plea filed by Beena Khalid, the wife of the MQM activist, whose arrest was recently disclosed since he went missing in October 2001 from Karachi.

The petitioner told the judges that her husband had gone missing from Karachi's Malir locality on October 6, 2011. She said she had come to know that Shamim was shown to have been arrested from the Chaman border by the Frontier Constabulary officials and his custody has been handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency.

She apprehended that her husband's life was in danger. Referring to media reports regarding Shamim's alleged involvement in the murder of MQM's Dr Imran Farooq in London, the petitioner said her husband could be shifted outside the country for interrogation.

The applicant said she would disclose further information later and pleaded the court to restrain the relevant authorities from shifting her husband outside the country.

Allowing the urgent application, the bench members issued notices to the authorities to file their replies on the matter by July 2.

Investigation officer's murder

A year after Dr Imran Farooq was stabbed to death near his Edgware residence on September 16, 2010, Khalid Shamim had gone missing from Karachi, according to his family.

His wife had filed a petition with the Sindh High Court, accusing members of the law enforcement agencies of having illegally detained her husband.

The court has passed different orders, directing the law enforcers to locate the whereabouts of the detainee until last week, when the security authorities claimed to have arrested Shamim and another person from the Pak-Afghan border.

The sub-divisional police officer of SITE filed a report dated June 18 to the court, stating that the police officer investigating the missing person's case was assassinated recently.

The report stated that the police's deputy superintendent, Abdul Majeed Abbasi, who was appointed as investigation officer of the missing person's case, was assassinated on June 9. A letter had been sent to the Additional IG Karachi to transfer the investigation of the case to the relevant DSP/SDPO Saudabad, the report stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2015.