KARACHI: The son of the Sindh High Court’s chief justice was kidnapped on Monday as police and the family remained clueless about the young man even 10 hours after his disappearance.

According to officials, Awais Ali Shah, a high court lawyer, left the SHC for Clifton to meet a friend, but did not reach there and his phone remained switched off.

“We are collecting information and are in touch with the family to connect the dots,” said DIG-South Munir Ahmed Sheikh.

“There is no evidence yet that Awais Ali Shah has been kidnapped. Police are looking into the matter and hope to come up with positive results soon.”

However, a police spokesman said later that police suspected that Awais Ali Shah had been kidnapped.

Sources told Dawn that the son of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah had left the high court premises for Clifton and went missing at around 2pm.

They said the entire provincial administration had been put on alert.

The sources told Dawn that the provincial administration had taken a “serious note” of the incident. A high-level meeting was in progress when we went to press.

The sources said that Awais Ali Shah was recently hired by over 700 sacked employees of the Karachi Port Trust to plead their case.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah ordered deployment of police at key exit and entry points of the metropolis to recover the son of the chief justice, his spokesperson said.

“Leave no stone unturned for his safe recovery,” the chief minister told the administration.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2016