PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police (IGP) to recover within 10 days two missing minor brothers and hand them over to their mother.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali fixed July 26 for next hearing of a petition filed by a woman, Ms Neelofar, whose husband Prof Bashir Ahmad was killed by a guard at Islamia College Peshawar in February this year.

The petitioner requested the court for recovery of her two sons Ziad and Ali bin Ahmad, who were allegedly taken away by her brother-in-law (Prof Bashir’s brother) and since then they had been missing.

She claimed that she had filed applications in subordinate courts, but to no avail and had to approach the high court.

Father of the missing children was killed by security guard in Islamia College

The bench expressed annoyance over the failure of police to recover the two children. Early in the day, the Peshawar capital city police officer, Ashfaq Anwar, turned up before the bench and stated that they had raided all the suspicious places for recovery of the boys but they could not be traced.

He stated that they had been doing their level best to trace the missing children.

He requested the bench to give them 20 days for recovering the children. The bench then ordered for the appearance of IGP and home secretary.

Later in the day, IGP Akhter Hayat Khan and the home secretary, Abid Majeed, also appeared before the court along with a deputy advocate general, Barrister Yaseen Raza. They informed the court that police had been utilising all the available resources for tracing the missing children.

The IGP said that he had also held a meeting with the petitioner and she was satisfied with the steps taken by police for tracing her children. He said that they were also in contact with Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in that connection and they might be allowed more time.

The bench observed that if police and other agencies failed in recovering the children then what was the option left with the court.

The home secretary said that the issue came into his notice only two days ago and he received report from police in that regard. He added that police had raided all such places where the children could have been kept, but so far they could not succeed in their efforts.

He said that police had also registered a case in that regard. He added that as a home secretary he would follow all the directives given by the court in the case.

When the bench inquired from the IGP how much more time should be given to them for recovering the children, he requested for 20 days. He said that they wanted to recover the children at the earliest as the case was also a challenge for them.

However, the bench allowed the police 10 days’ time for recovering the two brothers.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023