SC orders Punjab police to seek help for recovery of missing woman
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered Punjab police on Thursday to seek the assistance of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) of all the provinces to trace Asma Majeed, a woman who went missing from Dera Ghazi Khan almost five years ago.
A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, had taken up a petition filed by Abdul Majeed, the woman’s father, in which the apex court had ordered police to recover and produce the missing woman before it.
The court turned down a request by the petitioner to order inclusion of the Inter- Services Intelligence agency (ISI) in the search for the missing woman.
The Kala police station of D.G. Khan had registered a case on June 2, 2015, when Ijaz Ahmad reported that Asma Majeed, his cousin, was allegedly abducted by Nazeer Ahmad, Mehboob Ahmad and two unidentified persons.
On Thursday, a report was furnished before the apex court by Additional Advocate General Chaudhry Faisal Hussain on behalf of D.G. Khan’s district police officer in which the DPO stated that hectic efforts were being made to trace Asma Majeed.
“No stone is being left unturned to trace the abducted woman,” the report said. Police had carried out a search in a vast region stretching from D.G. Khan to Sadiqabad and in Rawalpindi’s Ganj Mandi area as well, the report added.
According to the report, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Multan wing had been requested to look into its record on human trafficking and in case the search threw up any clue about Ms Majeed, the agency should share it with the D.G. Khan DPO.
Letters had also been forwarded to the ISI, the Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau with a request to assist police in finding Asma Majeed.
A request was also moved to Punjab’s inspector general of police to ask the provincial home department to constitute a joint investigation team for recovery of the woman.
However, the report stated, inquiries suggested that Asma Majeed had left her home of her free will and that driver Ghulam Shabir and Abid Hussain had dropped her at the home of Kaneez Mai, who allegedly operated a brothel in Multan.
Kaneez Mai managed to conduct a Nikah between her son Mujahid Hussain and Asma Majeed on May 17, 2015. After this, Ms Majeed filed a private complaint against her father and brothers in the court of a magistrate in Mutan on May 22 in which she stated that she had contracted marriage with Mujahid Hussain of her own accord.
The Nikahnama was verified by the union council concerned in Multan, the police report said, adding that raids were conducted in different districts of Punjab.
Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2020
