KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Saturday was moved against the kidnapping of a son of SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah by a civil rights campaigner, who also sought resignation of the director general of Rangers, the provincial police chief and other high-ups for their failure to recover Advocate Awais Shah.

The petition was filed by Mohammed Imran Shahzad, who impleaded the home secretary, the DG of Rangers, the Inspector General of Police, Sindh, the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee chief, the Senior Superintendent of Police, the SHO of the Clifton police station and the chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority as respondents.

The petitioner said that the cases of terrorism were continuously increasing day by day and every citizen of the country was raising their voice against insecurity, fear and terror, but the security agencies and respondents failed to perform their respective duties.

He said that the Article 4, 9, and 25 of the constitution provided complete protection to the life and property of the masses.

The petitioner said that the son of the SHC chief justice was kidnapped in broad daylight in a busy area of Clifton by four men in plain clothes who were wearing police caps and came in a car bearing registration No SP-0586.

He said that the police were informed on emergency number 15 immediately about the incident, but they failed to take any prompt action.

The petitioner said that famous qawwal Amjad Sabri was brutally killed in broad daylight on June 22 in Liaquatabad, a thickly populated area.

The civil right campaigner said that the official respondents in the present cases had also failed to discharge their duties as guaranteed by the constitution that showed lawlessness at the hands of the respondents.

The petitioner asked the court to direct the DG of Rangers, the IGP, the CLPC chief, the SSP South and the SHO to tender their resignations forthwith as they all failed to discharge their duties in accordance with the law.

He also requested the court to direct the home secretary to constitute a joint investigation team (JIT) comprising members from the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau for investigation of the abduction of Advocate Awais Ali Shah.

It was further asked that Pemra should be directed to ensure that any secret investigation reports about the abduction of Advocate Shah was not be aired or published by the media.

The civil right campaigner also requested the court to direct the home secretary to provide security to the family of slain qawwal.

The petition is expected to come up for preliminary hearing on Monday.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2016