KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the provincial home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP), chief executive officer of the Cantonment Board Malir and others in a petition seeking recovery of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, issued the notices for Sept 20.

The bench also asked the respondents as well as the advocate general, prosecutor general and the deputy attorney general to file their respective comments by the next date of hearing.

The brother-in-law of the PTI leader, through his lawyer, had filed a petition before the SHC and contended that Mr Dar was taken away by some persons in plain clothes and travelling in vehicles having no registration numbers from the highly-secured Malir Cantonment area on Sept 9.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the whereabouts of the PTI leader were still not known.

Pleading the court for his recovery, the petitioner asked the bench to issue directives for the respondents to produce the missing person in court.

Two days ago, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub had alleged on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that Mr Dar was abducted from Malir Cantt “by unknown people at 4:30pm”.

However, SSP-Malir Tariq Illahi Mastoi, when contacted, denied arresting the PTI leader. Mr Dar, who originally hails from Sialkot, was a former special assistant to the prime minister on youth affairs. He was in hiding following May 9 violent incidents.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023