Govt told to file comments on former FIA official’s whereabouts

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the federal and provincial law officers to file comments with regard to the whereabouts of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) former deputy director who has been missing since April 28.

The direction came on a petition filed by Waqar Ahmed Khan, who challenged the allegedly enforced disappearance of his father Ahmed Jan Khan from the DHA neighbourhood.

The petitioner said his father was a former deputy director of the FIA who had served almost 33 years in the agency and had been removed from service compulsorily. He said that the matter with regard to the compulsory retirement is also pending in the apex court. He claimed that personnel of law enforcement agencies had picked up his father from DHA, and his whereabouts have remained unknown despite the passage of two months.

He also said the police registered a case of abduction of his father one month after the incident, and no progress has been made in the case. The federal and provincial law officers sought time to file comments on the petition. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Kausar Sultana Hussain directed the law officers to file comments on the petition, and directed the investigating officer of the case to submit the progress report of the case.

‘Missing for 9 years’

In a similar matter of Junaid Ahmed Khan, who has been missing since May 16, 2015, from the North Karachi area of the city, the court directed the interior and defence secretaries to file affidavits with regard to the whereabouts of the detainee.

The petitioner in the case said that the detainee has been missing since nine years, and that the mother of the detainee has been hospitalised and looking for her son. The law officer sought time to file the affidavits on behalf of the interior and defence secretaries. The provincial law officer said that providing financial aid to the petitioner’s family is also in progress, and whenever the petitioner would submit the requisite details, financial assistance would be provided to the nominated legal heirs.

The court also directed the police and other law enforcement agencies to submit comments with regard to the disappearance of a six-year-old boy who has been missing since June 11 from the SITE Super Highway area.