Long overdue: Little progress made in missing persons’ cases

Four citizens were detained by Rangers but there is no information on their whereabouts

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Thursday police officials to show progress in cases pertaining to the disappearance of two citizens and the alleged involvement of 'unknown Rangers personnel', whose advertisement by the police sparked a controversy last week.

A division bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, ordered the officials to submit these reports by November 12 and produce the investigation officers against whom non-bailable arrest warrants were issued.

The petitioner, Shamsur Rehman, had alleged that the personnel of law enforcement agencies had taken away his 22-year-old son, Fawad, with another man, Inamul Haque.

The court was told that the personnel had taken both men into custody without any warrants on January 6 this year. Ever since they were picked up, their whereabouts are unknown to their families, as the Rangers and police have repeatedly turned down requests to share information.

During Thursday's proceedings, the two judges were informed that advertisements had recently appeared in newspapers against unknown Rangers personnel but there has been no progress in the case yet.

MQM workers

Meanwhile, the same bench directed the SHOs of New Karachi and Landhi police stations to record the statements of the families of another two missing men and lodge FIRs, if any cognisable offence was made out against the Rangers personnel.

The court was informed that Furqan, said to be a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist, was taken away by unknown Rangers personnel on September 30.

The court was told that while the police had lodged an FIR regarding Furqan's disappearance, they had made no further progress in his case. The investigation officer was absent during the hearing.

Similarly, the investigation officer in the case of disappearance of another MQM activist, Azharul Haque, was also not present. Taking serious notice of the IOs absence, the bench issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest. The SSPs were directed to arrest and produce the officials by November 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2015.