‘ISI, MI deny detaining missing student’

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) have denied that they arrested or detained a college student who has been missing for the past two years, the Ministry of Defence told the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Abdul Hameed against the illegal detention of his son Abdul Rehman, a student of the Government College for Technology, SITE. The petitioner had submitted that his son was picked up by officials of Rangers and other LEAs on December 3, 2015 and to this date, his whereabouts are unknown.

At a previous hearing, the SHC had directed the defence ministry to ascertain the detainee’s whereabouts from the ISI and MI.  In Thursday’s hearing, the ministry told the court that the two intelligence agencies, which are working under its administrative control, had informed that the petitioner’s son was not in their custody and denied ever arresting or keeping him in detention. The provincial law officer submitted that four meetings of the joint investigation team were held but no clue was found with regard to the detainee’s whereabouts.

The petitioner’s counsel alleged that Rehman was picked up by the personnel of Rangers from his residence in Gulberg Town. However, the counsel for the paramilitary force denied the allegation, saying Rangers officials had also denied arresting or detaining him.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto then directed the provincial law officer to form a fresh joint investigation team to find out where the detainee was and to also take up the matter with the provincial task force on missing persons to redress the petitioner’s grievance.

Biometric verification

The SHC issued notices to the federal law officer and the ministries of foreign affairs and  religious affairs on a petition filed against biometric verification of Hajj and Umra pilgrims.

Rao Nasir Ali Jehangir said Saudi authorities had told the Pakistani government all visas for Hajj and Umra pilgrims would be issued after biometric registration by a Dubai-based firm. He said such a condition was not only a threat to the country but also its citizens and their data because the Dubai-based firm was a private company and one of its directors was an Indian national. The court was asked  to restrain the government and the private company from collecting biometric data of pilgrims until the disposal of the petition.