PESHAWAR, June 11: A human rights organisation on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court to seek orders for police to recover former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer, who was kidnapped from Lahore last year.

In the petition, Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel, chief of Pakistan Human Rights Movement, also requested the court to order the relevant security agencies to constitute teams for investigation into the kidnapping.

He said it might be directed that the ransom amount should be paid by the government in getting the detainee released.

The respondents in the petition are the government of Pakistan through the interior secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, director general of Federal Investigation Agency, Military Intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence, and political agents of all tribal agencies.

The petitioner said Salmaan Taseer was killed in January 2011 and later, his son, Shahbaz, was kidnapped by unidentified people on August 26, 2011, from Lahore on the way to office from house.

He added that the kidnapped person’s family had lodged an FIR at the relevant police station.

He said relatives of Mr Shahbaz stated that many inquiries had been held according to which the abductee was kept in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or adjoining tribal areas.

The petitioner said Punjab inspector general of police Javed Iqbal claimed on January 21 that Mr Shahbaz was in Waziristan along with an American aid worker, Warren Weinstein, who was also kidnapped last year from Model Town in Lahore.

He alleged that there was a likelihood that Mr Shahbaz might be with the political agent or intelligence agencies or any other group acting in connivance with the government.

The petitioner said the state had failed to fulfill its responsibility provided under the Constitution. He added that it was the duty of the state to protect the people’s life.

He said Mr Shahbaz’s confinement was illegal, without jurisdiction and for ulterior motives.