PHC summons police officers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday summoned the in-charge of the Elite Force and Deputy Superintendent of Police Shahnawaz Khan in a case related to a missing person that resulted in attacks on his family members when a petition was filed against police officers.
A division bench comprising of PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Thahim Khan summoned the police officer on November 4.
The court took action after a police constable Hafizul Haq submitted his statement on affidavit through his lawyer Muhammad Altaf Khan. He had stated that the then Capital City Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan had called him to his office and told him that his missing brother Aminul Haq was no more in this world and he would be compensated if he entered into a compromise with the police officers including DSP Shahnawaz Khan.
Another brother of the missing person, Fahimul Haq, resident of Sardheri village in Charsadda district, had also submitted his statement on affidavit in the court in which he alleged that he was also picked by the police officer when he met his missing brother Aminul Haq in the Peshawar Police Lines.
He said his brother was alive and he spent six days with him in the lockup at the police lines and then he was freed after the Peshawar High Court directives to the authorities concerned in a writ petition filed against his illegal detention by the police.
The lawyer informed the bench that the missing person Aminul Haq was a madrassa teacher and was taken away by the policemen headed by DSP Shahnawaz on August 2, 2013 during a raid. He said that SHO Kiramat Shah and Inspector Imran of Battagram Police Station were also part of the police raiding team.
The lawyer also informed the bench that a division bench headed by the then PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani in its order on October 24, 2013 had stated that DSP Shahnawaz had been involved in such cases as the court had received several complaints against him.
The court also posed a question to Abdul Fayyaz Khan, who appeared for the police officers as private counsel in the case, about the statement of the then CCPO Muhammad Ijaz Khan regarding the death of the missing person, Aminul Haq.
Abdul Fayyaz Khan replied that the former CCPO was abroad and the police department would try to get reply from him before the next hearing.During hearing of the case, police constable Hafizul Haq informed the bench that DSP Shahnawaz had attacked him three times after he filed the writ petition against him and other police officials involved in detention of his late brother Aminul Haq. He remarked that he was lucky to have escaped harm in the attacks.
Petitioner Hafizul Haq’s lawyer requested the court to order protection for him and his family from the respondent police officers.
The bench disposed of another missing person’s case after Additional Advocate General Umar Farooq Adam said the missing person was found in Kohat Internment Centre where he has been declared ‘black’ on account of involvement in militancy.