Daily Times

Two days after a Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) official purportedly went missing in Islamabad, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday directed the authorities concerned to recover the staffer by 2:00 pm on Monday.

The directive was given during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed a day earlier by Asmat Bibi, the mother of Joint Director Sajid Gondal, expressing apprehensions that her son may be put to mental and physical torture as his whereabouts are unknown and his life is also in danger.

During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar and Islamabad Chief Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed would need to appear before the court if Gondal was not recovered within the stipulated timeframe. The court also directed that the matter be referred to the federal cabinet, stating that it should be taken up at the next cabinet meeting if Gondal is not found. A copy of the court order was also forwarded to the Cabinet Division secretary.

During the hearing, Gondal’s mother contended that her son, who had been missing since Thursday evening, did not have enmity with anyone. “The abduction of a citizen from the capital in such a manner is extremely alarming,” remarked Justice Minallah during the hearing. Following the court directive, Islamabad Police registered a case of alleged abduction of Gondal.

According to details, the first information report (FIR) was registered at Shahzad Town police station on a complaint filed by Gondal’s wife. The complaint, expressing suspicion that Gondal had been ‘kidnapped by unidentified persons’, was submitted a day earlier.

Gondal’s car, his family said on Friday, was found in front of the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) on Park Road, located in Chak Shahzad. According to his family, he visited a family-owned dairy farm in Chak Shahzad on Thursday night but the staff said he left later in the evening.