ISLAMABAD: A person who went missing last month was produced before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, a day after Chief Justice Athar Minallah had fixed a 24-hour deadline for his recovery.
While resuming the hearing of a petition filed by Zulfiqar Ali, father of the ‘missing’ person Haseeb Hamza, Justice Minallah asked Hamza about his abductors and their whereabouts. However, Mr Hamza replied that since he was blindfolded, he did not know the identity of his abductors.
His father then apprised the court that he had received a call from his son, who told him that he was standing near a hospital.
He also said that after the recovery of his son, he was satisfied with the police’s response to his complaint.
The court directed the Islamabad police chief to probe how a citizen went missing from the federal capital as this was a very serious matter. He sought an explanation from police for not registering the first information report for over two weeks. He termed this a violation of the orders of the superior courts.
Advocate General Islamabad Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon told the court that the government has issued instructions to the police chief for swift registration of FIR of aggrieved persons.
However, the chief justice directed the Islamabad police chief to investigate the matter and submit a report to the registrar office within 10 days and also fix responsibility on the delinquent officials.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2022
