LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought replies from the federal secretaries of defence and interior ministries on a petition seeking recovery of two brothers of PTI social media head Azhar Mashwani, allegedly picked up by law enforcement agencies.

Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi also ordered the police to conduct a forensic examination of the CCTV footage of the alleged abduction of the brothers and to seek assistance from Nadra regarding them.

Qazi Habibur Rehman, the father of the “missing” men -- Zahoorul Hassan and Mazharul Hassan – filed the petition.

Advocate Abuzar Salman Niazi, the petitioner’s counsel, alleged that the sons of his client were in illegal custody of the law enforcement agencies.

He alleged that some plainclothesmen and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel detained the petitioner’s sons, adding that intelligence officials were accompanying the police when the brothers were picked up.

The counsel stated that the CCTV footage shows four CTD personnel, while the others were unidentified, asking why two unknown individuals were part of the police team.

Justice Rizvi said addressing DIG Security Malik Awais that his report was not satisfactory as it only mentioned the registration of an FIR regarding the abduction.

The judge remarked that merely lodging an FIR was insufficient in such cases and suggested that the matter appeared more complex.

The petitioner’s counsel requested the court to summon a report from the IGP.

However, the judge noted that the police report was already on the record, wherein they denied the custody of the alleged abductees.

The judge directed a federal law officer to submit replies on behalf of the secretaries of defence and interior ministries by June 13.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2024