Daily Times

KARACHI: Expressing grave concern over the growing number of missing person’s cases, the Sindh High Court has directed the law enforcement agencies to recover the missing men.

Headed by Justice Farooq Shah a two-member bench gave this direction while hearing over a dozen petitions seeking whereabouts of missing men.

It issued notices to the interior secretary, defense secretary, the provincial chiefs of Rangers and police and the station house officer of Malir police station to file their respective comments on a petition seeking whereabouts of two missing brothers.

Hooran Khatoon petitioned the high court seeking the whereabo0uts of her missing sons – Imran Ali and Zafarullah.

The petitioner, through her counsel, stated that some unknown persons clad in civil dresses broke into her house located near Chatai Ground in Malir’s Katchi Abadi on Dec 29 and took her sons away in a police van.

She told the judges that on the following day they again came to her house and demanded money for their release. When she gave them Rs35000, they promised to set the detainees free shortly but they didn’t, she alleged. The women petitioner said that she had inquired from different police stations to seek her sons’ whereabouts but all to no avail.

Her counsel argued that the petitioner’s sons were detained illegally in violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

The petitioner pleaded the judges to direct the LEAs to recover her sons and produce them in court.

Meanwhile, the bench issued notices to the federal and provincial authorities on a petition seeking whereabouts of Pakistan Qaumi Movement (PQM) Chairman Syed Iqbal Kazmi, who had announced to take out a rally in which Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain was likely to address.

Shazia Kazmi and party’s secretary general Muhammad Zahid Maqsood approached the court against the LEAs for allegedly detaining Kazmi.

The petitioners submitted that Kazmi had gone missing on Jan 17 and there was no clue to his whereabouts since then. He had announced to take out a rally from Ayesha Manzil to Mazar-e-Quaid on Jan 21 to unite divided nation, including political parties.

After he was denied permission by the authorities concerned to take out the rally, he filed a petition seeking court’s directives for them to permit the rally.

The woman petitioner told the judges that her spouse was intervened by police personnel near Karachi airport when he was returning home from the court who took him and his guard away. However, the guard was released later on.

She said that his whereabouts were still unknown as the law enforcement agencies were not disclosing any information about him.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the authorities concerned to recover Kazmi and produce him before it.