All agencies must work together to find Imran Riaz: LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed all the agencies to work together to find anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan — whose whereabouts remain unknown since his arrest at the Sialkot airport on May 11 — and produce him in the court by Tuesday (May 30).

The LHC’s directive was issued in a written order following yesterday’s hearing during which Lahore police Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Kamran Adil told the high court that both the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) had said that Khan was not in their custody.

In the order issued today, the court observed that a report was submitted to it on behalf of the interior ministry secretary that “stipulates denial of arrest/detention of the missing person by the proceedings on behalf of the Ministry of Defence”.

The order further stated that no one had attended court proceedings on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and “no report pertaining to steps taken by the agencies working under their control” sought by the court in an order dated May 22, 2023 was found among documents submitted to it by police.

“Therefore, all the agencies are directed to work together in terms of the order dated May 22, 2023, to effect the recovery of the missing person/detenue and produce him in the court on May 30, 2023,” the order read.