PhD student case: Police, CTD asked to submit replies

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday issued notices to the officials of police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to submit their replies in a petition filed for the recovery of a missing PhD student from Mardan.

A single-member bench of Justice Ejaz Anwar heard the petition. Advocate Zarbad Shah representing the petitioner told the court that his client, Asad Ali, a PhD student at the Islamia College University, was kidnapped from a local mosque in Babu Mohallah in Mardan on October 1 last, and since then he remained untraceable.

He pleaded that the victim’s brother was also a lawyer, and the CTD officials first demanded a pistol, but now they were asking for a hand-grenade. Twelve days after his kidnapping, he argued, the CTD officials contacted the family and asked that the pistol should be handed over. The petitioner’s lawyer contented, “If they (CTD officials) insist on a hand-grenade case, we demand they file it, so the matter can be taken to the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC).”

Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel pointed out that such persons, after being released, often did not testify in court about who abducted them.The petitioner’s lawyer prayed the court to summon the CTD Superintendent of Police, who could provide details about the victim’s whereabouts. Upon this, Justice Ejaz Anwar acknowledged that police were often hapless in such cases. He added, “In one instance, the police were seen on camera abducting someone, but they still denied it.”

Justice Ejaz Anwar remarked, “It reflects the government’s indifference when a PhD student is abducted. First, they detain individuals for two to three months, and when they find nothing against them, they fabricate minor charges by planting a pistol or something similar.”The court adjourned the hearing after issuing notices to the police and other relevant authorities to submit their replies in the instant petition.