Court withdraws stay order in favour of 4 missing brothers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has withdrawn the stay order previously issued in favour of four missing brothers from the Alkozai family, who had disappeared from the posh Hayatabad area of Peshawar. The court also adjourned further hearings in the case until April 21.

The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal.During the proceedings, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel and Additional Attorney General Sanaullah appeared before the court. In the writ petition, Advocate Muazzam Butt argued that last year, four members of the Alkozai family-Usman Khan, Muhammad Nasir, Abdul Waris, and Zahir-were forcibly taken from their home in Hayatabad by armed men.

He said the CCTV footage of the incident was available, showing that the perpetrators were in uniform. However, the police denied any involvement in the matter.Despite the passage of significant time, the whereabouts of the missing individuals remain unknown. A Joint Investigation Team was also formed for their recovery, but it yielded no results.

Meanwhile, their CNICs were blocked by NADRA because they were citizens of neighboring Afghanistan. The additional attorney general informed the court that the petitioner was an Afghan national, and NADRA had verified this. He added that the family had already moved to Afghanistan, and a report documenting this relocation was available.

Shah Faisal Utmankhel told the court that they had submitted supplementary applications seeking the dismissal of the case.NADRA’s Deputy Director Abdul Rauf stated that the court’s previous stay order had prevented them from taking any action under the NADRA laws, including the blocking of CNICs and related measures. In light of this, he requested the withdrawal of the stay order. The court accepted the request and adjourned the hearing until April 21.