The Lahore High Court was told on Monday that peace activist Raza Khan was not in custody of any of the agencies under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
In a reported presented to the court on behalf of the ministry, a deputy attorney general said that all agencies working under the ministry, including the Millitary Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had submitted that Raza was not in their custody.
Raza, a convener of the Aghaz-e-Dosti initiative promoting peaceful ties between Pakistan and India, had gone missing since December last year. He was last seen a day before he went missing at a meeting held under another initiative he was a part of.
On Monday, lawyer Asad Jamal, who is representing Raza’s brother in the habeas corpus petition, said that the police had not carried out a proper investigation in the case. He said the policemen had failed to protect the evidence gathered from crime scene and they also did not record the statement of the person who reported the incident to the police on the 15-emergency helpline.
Justice Raja Shahid Mahmood Abbasi then summoned Investigations SP along with a detailed report about the incident. The court directed the SP to appear on May 10 with the report.
Hamid Nasir Mahmood, brother of the missing peace activist, had approached the court submitting that Raza Khan was a convener of Aghaz-i-Dosti, an initiative promoting engagement between the youth of Pakistan and India. He was abducted by unidentified persons on December 2, 2017, from his Lahore Model Colony residence.
He said Naseerabad police registered an abduction case against unknown suspects but failed to recover his brother or make any arrests. He requested to recover his brother and produce before the court.
Published in Daily Times, May 8th 2018.
