HYDERABAD: A senior advocate was picked up by officials in plain clothes from his office situated at Abdullah Centre Qasimabad on Friday night within the jurisdiction of Qasimabad police station.

Advocate Maula Bux, who is co-worker of the missing lawyer, told Dawn that advocate Ashfaque Ahmed Lanjar, member of the High Court Bar Association Hyderabad, had received a phone call from a client and he went to his (Maula Bux) house to take him to the office as their office remained closed on Friday usually.

Mr Bux said they were waiting for the client after opening the office when five or six men entered the office and asked Mr Lanjar to come out of the office to consult some case while two or three men were standing out.

He said he (Lanjar) went with them out and then he heard sound of closing doors of three cars parked outside.

He said Mr Lanjar went with them in their vehicle and since then he had not been in contact with colleagues and the family. He said the incident had been reported to Qasimabad police station.

General secretary of the High Court Bar Association Hyderabad and member of the Sindh Bar Council Ayaz Hussain Tunio said he, along with some colleagues, met Hyderabad SSP Irfan Ali Baloch who checked the matter.

He quoted the SSP as saying that if the missing advocate was not found anywhere, a kidnapping case would be registered.

Later, confirming the arrest of the advocate, the SSP told Dawn that the Hyderabad district police apprehended the lawyer on suspicion of his involvement in some kidnapping cases and were interrogating him.

He said that if the lawyer was innocent, he would be released, otherwise he would be legally prosecuted in the court of law.

He also confirmed that the lawyer had no criminal record in the past.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014