July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

RAWALPINDI, July 16: The additional district and sessions judge (ASJ), Shaukat Mehmood, here on Monday directed the Saddar Berooni SHO to register a case against alleged kidnappers and proceed according to law.

The court was moved by a woman, Nazmat Bibi, who alleged that four influential persons —Syed Tehseen Abbas, Ali Raza, Adnan Raza and Syed Tasadque Hussain— all residents of the Hussainabad tehsil of the Jand district in Attock, had kidnapped her young daughter, Aniqa Kanwal, from outside her house in Mohalla Qureshiabad, Chak Jalal Din and kept her in illegal confinement.

According to the complainant, Bibi and her children used to live at Jand, in Attock, and her husband worked in Abu Dhabi. When he came to Pakistan in May this year, she complained to him about Mr Abbas, one of the accused, who had been teasing them for a long time.

She said in her complaint that her husband decided to shift them to Rawalpindi, at their present residence, in June after their children’s summer vacations ended. Her husband left his brother, Haji Iqbal, to look after them before departing to Abu Dhabi.

She said that after moving to Rawalpindi, they got their daughter, Aniqa wedlocked (gave in Nikah) to Majid Mehmood on June 5 and it was decided that the wedding (Rukhsati) would take place when her father returns to Pakistan next. On June 25, Aniqa left her house at 10am to buy some edibles but did not return.

Her family launched a search effort that ended up in smoke. They then reported her disappearance to the police.

On June 27, Mr Abbas called and informed them that Aniqa was with him but threatened to kill her if the matter was reported to the police. Later, on the intervention of some people of the area, her daughter was recovered.

The complainant said she had been asking the police to register a case against the kidnappers but all in vain.

The court on Monday ordered the police to take action according to law and register the case.

LAWYERS’ STRIKE: Meanwhile, members of the Rawalpindi District Bar Association (DBA) and the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) have decided to observe a complete strike on Tuesday, in connection with Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary’s address to the Islamabad Bar.

This was announced at a joint news briefing by members of the DBA and the LHCBA, here on Monday.

Lawyers have prepared a number of black flags to mark the protest, the joint secretary of the DBA, Shahbaz Ahmad Rajpoot, said. The lawyers would set out from the bar at about 2pm in a rally, which they have named Karwan-i-Adl (Justice Caravan).

All the lawyers will travel in their own cars, led by the president of the DBA, Khalid Ismail and that of the LHCBA, Sardar Ismatullah.