KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday expressed resentment over the Provincial Task Force (PTF) and a Joint Investiga­tion Team for Missing Persons over their failure to locate a missing man and directed the JIT head to appear in court on Nov 15.

A two-judge bench hea­ded by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto also deplored that the PTF had only completed formalities while discussing the cases of missing persons and directed it to discuss and consider the cases of all missing persons separately and then pass orders to the JIT head and investigating officers of the cases.

When the bench took up a set of identical petitions of missing persons for hearing, the police through a progress report submitted that the 21st session of the JIT was held on Oct 15 to discuss the case of two brothers, who went missing from the Airport area in 2014, but the report was still awaited.

The bench came down hard on the JIT and said that several sessions had been held, but stereotype reports had repeatedly been filed. It summoned the JIT head to appear along with the report of the last session and explain about the efforts being made by him for recovery of the missing persons.

The bench also expressed dissatisfaction over the reports filed by the PTF and police and directed the JIT and PTF to hold the sessions again the next hearing and submit reports.

Petitioner Uzma Shahzadi submitted that her sons Maad Ahmed Khan and Talha Ahmed Khan were taken away in April 2014. The bench also summoned JIT head in some other identical petitions filed in 2014 and 2016.

In another matter in which a man and his nephew had gone missing in 2009 from Quaidabad, the police report said that several sessions of JIT had been held and the matter was also discussed by PTF, but there was no clue regarding missing person.

The bench observed that apparently the head of the JIT and IO had been directed by the PTF to collect travel history of the missing persons from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). But it is very unfortunate that since 2014, the head of JIT and IO had failed to collect the travel history, the bench said and ordered the FIA director (Sindh) to submit the same before the next hearing.

Petitioner Mohammad Nawaz submitted that he along with his brother, Mohammad Amin, and nephew, Mohammad Ilyas, were picked up in 2009 by personnel of law enforcement agencies and later he was handed over to police in an illicit weapon case.

The petitioner maintained that he was acquitted by the trial court, but the whereabouts of his brother and nephew were not known since their arrest.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2021