SHC calls comments from agencies in detention cases
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the federal government and the heads of intelligence agencies to file comments regarding the whereabouts of a man who is allegedly being detained illegally since September 7, 2007.
The court was hearing the petition of Mohammad Faisal who alleged that his brother, 28-year-old Mohammad Nadir, was picked up by armed personnel on September 7 last year when he was sitting at a teashop outside his house in Sharifabad.
His counsel, Maqboolur Rehman, submitted that DSP Liaquatabad, Rehmatullah, was contacted in this regard but no action has been taken so far. He said that the detainee had been missing since he was picked up, and his whereabouts were still unknown.
Rehman further said that the matter was earlier taken up by the SHC and the court deputed the police station concerned for investigation. Instead of recovering the detainee, however, the police personnel were insisting that an FIR be registered for the incident.
The home department, the IG Sindh, the interior secretary, and the DGs ISI and MI have been named among the respondents. The petitioner has requested the court to direct them to ascertain the whereabouts of the detainee and produce him before the court if he has been arrested. The court was also asked to restrain the respondents from handing over the detainee to another country without the court’s order and to provide the list of cases (if any) registered against him.
In their comments, the Pakistan Rangers, the Sindh police and the DSP Liaquatabad had already denied arresting or detaining Nadir. The police claimed that efforts were being made to ascertain his whereabouts.
An SHC division bench, comprising Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Justice Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi, adjourned the matter till May 30, and directed the federal and the provincial law officers to file comments on the petition.
In another petition regarding the detention of the Khatib of Lal Masjid in Nazimabad, the Anti-Violent Crime Unit (AVCU), the Sindh Police and the Pakistan Rangers have also denied arresting or detaining Maulana Abdul Samad Soomro.
Mohammad Ikramullah, a friend of Soomro’s, has alleged that the detainee was picked up from his residence on November 3, 2007, by personnel of the law-enforcement agencies.
An SHC division bench, comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada, directed the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) to ascertain the whereabouts of the detainee and submit comments on May 15.
Source: The News
Date:5/8/2008
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