PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday expressed displeasure at the police’s failure to recover a minor boy, who is at the centre of the custody row between his Kyrgyz mother and Pakistani father and ordered his production before it on April 26.

Justice Nisar Hussain and Justice Qaiser Rasheed directed the Swabi district police officer and SHO of the relevant police station to ensure the presence of the boy, Mohammad Yousaf, during the next hearing into a petition filed by his Kyrgyz mother, Aliyichieve Aijan, seeking the custody of her son.

The petitioner claims a Pakistani national, Mohammad Zeb, who is a resident of Yaqoobi village in Swabi district, had married her in Kirghizstan in 2005 and has two sons and a daughter out of that wedlock.

She said she and her husband had differences over certain issues following which Mohammad Zeb left her and took away her seven-year-old son, Mohammad Yousaf, with him to Pakistan.

Kyrgyz woman seeks custody of son

Mohammad Abdullah Khan, lawyer for the petitioner, said earlier, a family court in Rawalpindi had issued orders to Mohammad Zeb to hand over the boy to the petitioner.

He, however, said instead of following the court’s orders, Mohammad Zeb disappeared along with the child.

The lawyer said Mohammad Yousaf was a Kyrgyz national and was illegally taken away from his country.

Swabi DPO Jawed Iqbal and SHO of Yaqoobi police station appeared before the bench and said they had been making efforts for the recovery of the boy and tracing his father but so far their efforts could not bear fruit.

Some members of a local jirga of Swabi also turned up and said Mohammad Zeb could not be traced.

The bench observed that apparently, the police had been conniving with the family of the boy’s father.

It added that the police were capable of recovering the boy within two days provided they honestly wanted to do so.

CONTEMPT CASE DISPOSED OF: A high court bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Syed Afsar Shah disposed of a contempt of court petition against the Charsadda district education officer (female) in the job quota violation case.

Advocate Habibullah Mohmand appeared for the petitioner, Suleman Shah, and said the petitioner’s father, Khalidullah, was a Class-IV employee in the education department, Charsadda District, and he retired in the year 2010.

He said the petitioner submitted an application seeking employment against the employees’ son quota but the department didn’t consider it.

The lawyer said the petitioner had filed a petition seeking directives for the department for his appointment and that the high court had accepted that petition.

He however said despite the passage of many months, the department had not appointed the petitioner, an act, which amounted to the contempt of the court.

Charsadda DEO (female) Naveed Anjum appeared before the court and submitted the appointment order of the petitioner saying they had complied with the court’s order.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2016