KARACHI: The Sindh government has sought “help” from the home department of the other three provinces to find clues to the kidnappers of Advocate Awais Ali Shah, son of the Sindh High Court chief justice, or his whereabouts.

The move, however, does not indicate that the law enforcers have stopped making efforts to trace the kidnappers and the young lawyer in Karachi, as the Rangers continued to conduct search operations and detained suspects for interrogation while the police prepared a sketch of one of the four suspected kidnappers. Officials said the Sindh government sent a formal request to the home department of the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan governments to plan their action to trace the kidnappers, as it was suspected that they had left Sindh’s territory the day they had abducted Advocate Shah.

“It’s suspected that the kidnappers left the city within hours after they had kidnapped Awais Shah,” said an official. “So it was conveyed to law-enforcement agencies in other provinces to be vigilant and plan their action to locate them,” he added.

Sketch of one of the four kidnappers prepared

Simultaneously, the law enforcers in the metropolis were making all-out efforts to find clues to the kidnappers and had already made some progress in the investigation, the official claimed.

The police said a sketch of one of the four kidnappers, who had picked up Advocate Shah on Monday afternoon from the car park of a prominent super market in Clifton, had been prepared with the help of eyewitness accounts, as several people had seen the young lawyer resisting while being forced to sit in a white car.

In a brief statement issued on Thursday, the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, claimed that they detained 10 suspects for interrogation and seized weapons from them after raids in different parts of the city.

“A search operation has been conducted in connection with the kidnapping of Advocate Awais Ali Shah in Clifton, Defence, Shah Faisal Colony and Baldia Town areas.”

Court work remains suspended

Legal fraternity, meanwhile, stayed away from courts in protest against the kidnapping of Advocate Awais Shah, son of Sindh High Court chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

Most of the legal proceedings remained suspended as the SHC discharged its board, putting off the hearing of cases to next dates to be pronounced later by the court office. The contempt of court case filed by supermodel Ayyan Ali against the federal authorities and a petition of Dr Asim Hussain, former petroleum minister and a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, were also deferred to next dates.

However, a two-judge bench took up the case of non-payment of salaries to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation employees and directed the provincial finance and local government secretaries to appear in court on June 28 for their failure to get the summary of Rs70 million special grant approved by the chief minister. The bench also directed the respondents to ensure the payment of salaries to the KMC employees well before Eid.

Meanwhile, Qaumi Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palejo visited the chief justice at his chamber.

Later, Mr Palejo told the media that he sought CJ’s permission to call a strike against the kidnapping of his son, but the chief justice asked him to just pray for the safe recovery of his son.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016