The city police have registered cases against the disappearance of seven children who have gone missing from different areas of Karachi and will make every possible effort for their recovery, a senior superintendent of police informed the Sindh High Court in his report filed this past week.
Filing a progress report before the court which had ordered registration of FIRs against disappearance of 12 children from different parts of the city, SSP Muqaddas Haider submitted that FIRs had been registered in seven cases, while four children had returned to their homes on their own. He said the family of one of the missing child was residing in Sialkot and efforts were being made to establish contact with them.
The court, at a previous hearing, had directed the police to register cases against the disappearance of children and directed the Sindh IGP to appoint a senior police officer to investigate the cases.
The directives came on a petition by a non-government organisation, Roshni Helpline. The trust had taken up the matter of missing children and sought orders to the police to consider the missing children cases a cognizable offence and to investigate such matters without any delay.
The organisation submitted in the petition that cases of missing children were not properly investigated by the authorities concerned which resulted in many avoidable deaths. The petition contains data collected by the organisation on missing children which revealed that over 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year.
It states that due to deliberate negligence on the police’s part, which stems from a lack of importance attached to these cases, the whereabouts of many of the missing children could never be traced and they are left at the mercy of the kidnappers.
The petition states that the police register complaints about missing children on daily dairies of the police station, instead of registering FIRs. It contends that if FIRs were registered and the cases properly investigated, many of the missing children could be recovered and their lives could be saved.
The petitioner’s counsel also submitted a list of cases of missing children in which the concerned police station’s SHO had refused to register proper FIRs. The court was requested to direct the police to register the cases at the earliest. According to the petition, the organisation’s data shows that cases of missing children aged between four and 16 had been reported from Shah Faisal Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mehmoodabad, Sher Shah, Awami Colony, Jackson, Taimoria, Saddar, Korangi Industrial Area and Ferozeabad over the past one-and-a-half year.
According to the police report, the cases of missing children named Gulsher, Abraham, Mehak, Kashif, Muazzam, Saima, Irfan and Mohammad Hussain have been registered at Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mehmoodabad, Shah Faisal Colony, Jackson, Korangi Industrial Area, Preedy and Gulistan-e-Jauhar police stations and efforts were being made for their recovery.
The SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto has directed the SSP concerned to make all efforts for recovery of missing children and submit a progress report within three weeks.
Ex-KDA officer’s plea
The Sindh High Court has directed the National Accountability Bureau to file comments on a petition by a former land director of the Karachi Development Authority who is a co-accused in the Rs462 billion corruption reference against former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain.
The directives came on a petition filed by ex-KDA official Syed Athar Hussain against the rejection of his acquittal application by an accountability court. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client had nothing to do with any offence with regards to allotment of amenity land for Dr Asim’s hospitals in North Nazimabad and Clifton.
NAB had alleged that the petitioner, in his capacity of a KDA director, had issued facilitated the allotment of more than four acres of amenity land to Dr Asim’s hospital, resulting in losses to the national exchequer.
Dr Asim Hussain, a close aide of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, is facing corruption references pertaining to land fraud amounting to Rs9.5 billion, money laundering amounting to Rs3 billion, and misuse of authority and criminal breach of trust in a fertilizer scam of Rs450 billion.
Former petroleum and natural resources secretary Ejaz Chaudhry, Karachi Docks Labour Board’s former CEO Safdar Hussain, KDA’s ex-directors Syed Athar Hussain and Masood Haider Jaffery, and Ziauddin Group’s finance director Abdul Hameed are among the co-accused.
PML-N senator’s plea
The Sindh High Court has directed the provincial law officer to submit a report regarding approval of an inquiry against Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz senator Dr Raheela Magsi by the provincial Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).
The court was hearing a petition filed by Dr Magsi against the inquiry being conducted against her by ACE. Dr Magsi had challenged the initiation of the inquiry regarding awarding of contract without fulfilment of codal formalities and misappropriation of millions in procurement of furniture for the DCO secretariat and district nazim offices.
Dr Magsi submitted she was being victimised after 12 years by the ruling provincial party soon after the visit of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders to her residence.
The provincial law officer submitted that ACE had completed an inquiry against Dr Magsi for illegally purchasing 274 acres of agricultural land in Tando Allayhar during her 2005-06 tenure as a district nazima in her and other family members’ names and causing losses to the national exchequer.
He submitted that on conclusion of the inquiry the matter had been placed before Anti Corruption Circle-I for approval of FIR against the petitioner and sought time to submit a report. He also requested the court to dismiss Dr Magsi’s petition as not maintainable. The court, while extending Dr Magsi’s protective bail, directed the law officer to submit a progress report on January 22.