Tag: missing person

  • Owner of Next Cola goes ‘missing’ in Karachi

    Owner of Next Cola goes ‘missing’ in Karachi

    ARY News has reported on Thursday that well-known businessman Zulfiqar Ahmed has allegedly gone missing in Karachi.

    Social media is peppered with images of an abandoned BMW car in the middle of a road. The car reportedly belonged to Zulfiqar Ahmed, the owner of Paracha Textiles, Meezan Oil, and Cola Next.

    According to ARY News, armed men forced Ahmed and his partner, Qaiser, into a double cabin vehicle at gunpoint on Mauripur Road in Keamari.

    Interestingly, the eyewitnesses reported that the other person, Qaiser, was released shortly after the capture.

    More importantly, the family of the abducted individual is facing challenges in filing a First Information Report (FIR) at a police station. The police have yet to file the FIR.

  • ‘Submit report on all detention camps in the country’, Sindh High Court

    ‘Submit report on all detention camps in the country’, Sindh High Court

    In a significant development, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted a three-week deadline to the Federal Defence Ministry and the Sindh Home Department to submit a comprehensive report on all detention camps across the country.

    The directive came from a two-judge bench, with Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto presiding, during a hearing on Thursday concerning petitions related to the recovery of missing persons.

    The bench took cognizance of the case after one petitioner revealed that her husband, Tahir Rehan, had been missing since 2015, with no investigative action taken by the police.

    Expressing dissatisfaction with the public prosecutor’s claim of providing Rs500,000 in compensation, the petitioner asserted that she had not received any such compensation.

    The Sindh Home Department officially announced the suspension of compensation payments to families of missing persons, as revealed in a report submitted to the Sindh High Court.

    The court had directed the submission of a comprehensive report to federal authorities, including the Interior Secretary and Defense Secretary, concerning applications related to compensation for families of missing persons.

    In a proactive measure, the court ordered the publication of advertisements in both print and electronic media to aid in the search for Shahri Majid, missing since 2015.

    Additionally, the court directed the gathering of information on missing persons from jail authorities and various locations across the country.

  • Minor housemaid missing from Pir’s house

    Minor housemaid missing from Pir’s house

    It has been a month since a minor housemaid working at an influential pir family in Karachi went missing.

    The girl’s father, Ayaz Chandio, fears that his 16-year-old daughter, Aqsa Chandio, has either been killed or sold by her employer.

    Aqsa went missing on August 15 and as the father filed a complaint, Darakhshan police registered an FIR under Section 365-B (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage etc) of the Pakistan Penal Code on August 17.

    Ayaz spoke with Times, a Sindhi news channel, expressing fears that Aqsa has either been killed or sold by the frmale employer.

    The employer had informed Ayaz Chandio of Aqsa’s disappearance after which he came to the coastal city from Khairpur. However he has claimed that he was detained at the family’s house for two days.

    He also said that the neighbour recalled that they could hear Aqsa’s cries and screams every night.

    The employer’s brother threatened Ayaz and warned him that he would not be able to return to his village, Pir Jo Goth, if he highlighted the disappearance.

    He has also complained that the police have not been taking the case seriously.

    According to DIG-South Syed Asad Raza, Aqsa was kidnapped from the Seaview apartment on August 15.

    The police constituted a special team, probed some suspects and arrests were expected very soon.

    According to investigators, Aqsa had a mobile phone that she secretly used which infuriated her employees. Ayaz was called but by the time he arrived, Aqsa had left.

    The mobile phone is currently in police’s custody.

  • ‘Last opportunity’ for police to recover Imran Riaz Khan: Lahore High Court

    ‘Last opportunity’ for police to recover Imran Riaz Khan: Lahore High Court

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has said on Wednesday that it’s the “last opportunity” for Punjab Police to recover missing journalist and YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan by September 26, adjourning the hearing till then.

    Imran Riaz was arrested after May 9 riots. He was taken to the Cantt police station and then transferred to Sialkot prison.

    After that, the law officer told the court that Imran Riaz had been released from jail after taking a written undertaking on May 15.

    On May 16, the father of the anchorperson, Muhammad Riaz, filed a first information report (FIR) with the Sialkot Civil Lines police, alleging that Imran had been kidnapped.

    The FIR was registered against “unidentified persons” and police officials for allegedly kidnapping Imran, invoking Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

    Imran Riaz’s father also filed a petition in the LHC for his recovery.

  • Police chief tells court Imran Riaz investigation heading in ‘right direction’

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned till next week a hearing in the Imran Riaz recovery case as the Punjab Police chief told the court that investigation is heading in “right direction”.

    Television anchor and YouTuber Imran Riaz was arrested two days after May 9 riots, following former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest. After the journalist’s arrest, he was taken to Cantt police station and then transferred to Sialkot jail.

    After this a law officer told the court on May 15 that Imran Riaz has been released from the jail after giving an undertaking in writing. His family and lawyer, however , were still not aware of his whereabouts.

    An FIR was registered against “unidentified persons” for allegedly kidnapping the journalist.
    In the previous hearing on September 6, conducted by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, the Punjab Inspector General (IG) Dr Usman Anwar said there was “positive progress” in the case.

    “We will give good news in the next 10 to 15 days,” he told the court. The hearing was then adjourned till today.

  • Missing person returns home after court warning

    Missing person returns home after court warning

    Haseeb Hamza, who had reportedly gone “missing” in August has been produced before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by the police, a day after the court issued a strict warning to the police and intelligence agencies to locate him by Wednesday.

    His father, Zulfikar Ali, told the court that his son phoned him in the morning to inform him that he was near the Shifa International Hospital in the capital.

    During the hearing today (Wednesday), IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Justice Minallah asked Haseeb where he had been, to which he replied that he was blindfolded at the time he was taken and had no knowledge of where he was.

    Haseeb’s father had filed a petition in IHC, which stated that on the night between August 22 and August 23, around 20 people — 15 of them in black uniforms — entered his house without a warrant and whisked away his son along with a laptop computer, five mobile phones and some documents.

    After Hamza’s return, Justice Minallah ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to conduct an investigation into the kidnapping case and to submit a report to the registrar of the high court by September 22.

    ’Produce missing person by tomorrow, else intelligence services must appear at court’, Court directs police

    A day earlier, Justice Minallah gave strict orders to find Hamze by 10am tomorrow (Wednesday).

    The court also added that if the person is not produced by tomorrow, sector commanders of Military Intelligence (MI), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Special Branch and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) must appear before the court.

    His father Zulfikar Ali filed a petition in which he said his son was picked up from their home on August 22. According to him, he filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the time but all in vain.

    Zulfikar had said that his son was a labourer who worked in Layyah in Punjab.

    The IGP duly appeared before the court and confirmed that FIR had been lodged.

    Moreover, the petition said that the police say that Haseeb is with the intelligence agencies.

    Justice Minallah said that under an earlier court verdict IGP and other concerned officials should be held responsible for the disappearance of a citizen.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif appeared before IHC and assured the court that all-out efforts will be made to recover missing persons.

    “I cannot say that all of the missing persons will be recovered, but we will leave no stone unturned”, he had promised.

  • ’We never tried to oppress the media’: Imran Khan

    ’We never tried to oppress the media’: Imran Khan

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in his interview with The Guardian spoke at length about media freedom during his time as prime minister, forced disappearance in Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

    ‘We never tried to oppress the media’: Khan

    “In my time, we never tried to oppress the media. The only problem was that sometimes the … security agencies — three or four times we found out that picked someone up and immediately when we found out we would immediately have them released,” said Khan.

    They [security people] were responsible for picking up people: Khan

    “They [security forces] were responsible for picking up people, but according to them they were involved in this insurgency, which was going on in Balochistan and the tribal area bordering Afghanistan. So they would blame that, with some justification, because you could not convict terrorists in the courts because you wouldn’t get witnesses,” said Khan while speaking about forced disappearances and missing persons.

    Eventually Afghan women, the Afghan people, will assert their rights: Imran Khan

    “Eventually Afghan women, the Afghan people, will assert their rights. They are strong people,” he said. “But if you push the Taliban from the outside, knowing their mindset, they will just put up defences. They just hate outside interference,” said Khan about Afghanistan.

  • ‘Produce missing persons or appear before court’: IHC sends notice to Musharraf, IK, PM Shehbaz

    ‘Produce missing persons or appear before court’: IHC sends notice to Musharraf, IK, PM Shehbaz

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the government to issue notices to former President General Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the current PM Shehbaz Sharif for following an “undeclared tacit approval of the policy regarding enforced disappearances.”

    The court directed that the federal government shall produce the missing persons before the court on June 17 or justify the failure of the state to effectively investigate.

    IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Justice Athar Minallah said, “Musharraf and all other successor chief executives [PM Shehbaz and Khan] shall submit their respective affidavits explaining why the court may not order proceedings against them for alleged subversion of the Constitution in the context of undeclared tacit approval of the policy regarding enforced disappearances and thus putting national security at risk by allowing the involvement of law enforcement agencies, particularly the armed forces.”

    The court also noted that the involvement or even a perception of the involvement of the armed forces in acts “amounting to a violation of human rights and freedom of the citizens weakens and undermines the rule of law.”

    On Sunday, the high court issued a 15-page order in a case related to the disappearance of journalist Mudassar Mahmood Naro and five other people after their petitions were in their final phases, but the federal government requested an “adjournment.”

    The court also noted the fact that how the Pakistani media ignores this form of abuse and that reporting on the matter is not a priority. Moreover, the court also expressed dissatisfaction over the role of parliament in regard to the disappearances. It said that “they are the most important and crucial organs of the state but nothing has been placed on record to indicate that they may have adopted a proactive role to fulfill their Constitutional obligations.”

    Journalist Mudassar has been missing since 2018 from Khyber Pakhtunkhua.