Family suffering as COMSATS student remains missing

ABBOTTABAD: The family of a student of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology is in shock as he has been missing for the last 48 days.

Fatehul Aziz, father of Hamza Farooqi, from the Firdaus Hall hostel of the COMSATS, told The News that his 20-year-old son was a student of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and went missing on January 18. He said the matter was reported to the Mirpur Police Station the very next day.

The hapless father said the police registered the first information report subsequently after preliminary investigation but could not locate his missing son. Fatehul Aziz, who hails from Swabi but is residing in Telephone Factory area in Haripur, said he had got the complete data record of his son's cell-phone. "It clearly indicates his contacts with his two class fellows throughout the day when he went missing," he added.

The father said as per the mobile record his class fellow Uzair remained in contact with Hamza till 6pm. Besides, a female class fellow remained in touch with him from 2 pm to 6.30 pm through 63 SMS, he recalled. "I personally called him around 4 pm the same day. Hamza asked me to contact him through SMS due to his throat problem. Later he told me that he would reach home after 6 pm," his father explained. He added that Hamza's cell-phone was found switched off after 7.25 pm.

According to his cell record, Hamza's location was Sirikot Road around 4 pm and later at 4.55 pm his position showed him to be at Ghazi. He remained in contact with both his class fellows till 6.30 pm.

Hamza's brother Fahad, who is serving at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute in Swabi, told The News that his last contact with Hamza was around 5pm on the day he went missing. He said Hamza wanted to discuss with him his examination papers and marks. "I told Hamza to call me back after some time but he didn't do so," Fahad recalled.

Uzair, a class fellow of Hamza, told this correspondent that he had asked him to leave the place where he was standing at the time. "My female class fellow asked me to do so," he added. When asked where Hamza was standing at that time, Uzair said he was standing outside the house of a female class fellow who was feeling uneasy because of his action. Father of Hamza, also lodged a complaint with the Complaint Cell of Inspector General of Police a month back. He expressed concern over the slow investigation process and lack of cooperation by the police.

He was allotted a complaint code and asked to see relevant deputy superintendent of police, but no progress has been made so far. Fatehul Aziz appealed to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani to help him trace his son and put an end to the sufferings of his family.