Sindh High Court orders probe into illegal detention of two activists of nationalist parties
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the DIG Hyderabad to conduct an inquiry into the alleged illegal detention of a Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) activist and to submit a report within 15 days.
Mukhtiar Begum filed a petition against Hyderabad police for keeping her son Faqir Najeeb Qureshi in illegal detention. She submitted that her son was picked up by the police when he was going to hospital to visit her wife on May 2.
Her counsel, Noor Naz Agha, alleged that the police neither disclosed the whereabouts of the detainee after the arrest nor produced him before the court of law. He expressed apprehension about Qureshi’s life.
The Hyderabad City SHO submitted a progress report stating that the detainee was not arrested or detained; however he was required in two criminal cases. The court was informed that all possible efforts were being made by the police to trace the missing person but he could not be recovered.
A division bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, directed the DIG Hyderabad to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 15 days. The court also asked the petitioner to approach the DIG within three days, and adjourned the hearing of the case till July 31.
In another detention matter, the SHC directed the DIG Sukkur to submit a progress report on efforts to trace the whereabouts of a JSQM activist who has been missing since March last year.
The court was hearing a petition of Qabil Khoso against the illegal detention of his brother Sohbat Khoso. The petitioner submitted that his brother along with Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz leader Ikhtiar Chandio were picked up by personnel of law enforcement agencies on March 17 last year in the Ranipur area.
He said Ikhtiar Chandio was shown arrested in a criminal case but the whereabouts of his brother was still unknown. He alleged that the detainee was in the custody of the ISI. The federal law officer had, however, filed an affidavit on behalf of the ISI denying the arrest or the detention of the petitioner’s brother.
The acting DIG Sukkur submitted a progress report informing that police teams searched different localities, but the whereabouts of the detainee could not be ascertained. He stated that a joint investigation team had been constituted and the SSP Khairpur, being head of the team, had been directed to make all-out efforts to trace the whereabouts of the detainee.
The court, adjourning the matter till August 7, directed the DIG Sukkur to submit a progress report on the next date of hearing.
The same bench also directed the home department to place on record the joint investigation team’s report with regard to the whereabouts of a man who was alleged to have been taken away by the Rangers.
Petitioner Rehana Bibi submitted that her son Imran was arrested by Rangers’ personnel on April 8 in the Landhi area and his whereabouts were unknown. The Rangers denied the arrest or detention of the man.
The home department submitted that a joint investigation team had been constituted to probe into the matter.
Bail petitions dismissed
The SHC dismissed bail applications of accountant general office officials in a pension fraud case.
Shamsuddin and other five ex-district account officials in Hyderabad were booked by NAB for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of government funds.
NAB alleged that Abdul Ghani Lashari, Ghulam Qadir Memon, Shamsuddin and other officials with the connivance of private respondents got issued pensions to 35 ghost/fake employees in education and health departments and caused losses to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs32.16 million in 2004.
The court observed that the petitioners were prima facie involved in the case, and dismissed their bail applications. The court however directed the trial court to decide the reference within 90 days and in case the trial was not concluded within the stipulated time then the petitioners may file a fresh petition for grant of bail.
Harassment case
The SHC issued notices to the inspector-general of police, the SSP Sanghar, the SHO Umerkot and others on a petition of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders against harassment.
Petitioners Akbar Samejo and Abdul Rehman Samejo submitted that police were harassing them and their family members and implicating them in false cases.
They said that they had been falsely implicated in five cases in different police stations of Tharparkar district. They sought protection against police harassment and prayed to the court to direct the police to produce the record of all cases if pending against them.
A division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the advocate general of Sindh, the IGP, the SSP Sanghar and others, and called their comments on the next date of hearing.
Suspect remanded in doctor’s kidnap, murder case
An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday remanded one more suspect facing the kidnapping and murder charges of neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Ahmed Qureshi to police custody till July 16.
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