Matiullah case: IGP submits report in Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) has been added to the abduction case of journalist Matiullah Jan and the case is under investigation as per law.

In pursuance of the court’s order, Inspector General of Police Islamabad has submitted a report in the apex court stating that Section 7 of the ATA has been added to the abduction case. He submitted that on receipt of order, report was solicited from DG Operation Islamabad whose report contains all the efforts. According to the report, the IGP submitted that he constituted a special investigation team under the chairmanship of the DG Operations to investigate the case.

He further submitted that efforts are underway and requests have been made to the concerned organisations for geo-fencing and provision of other information and record, adding that all efforts are being made to identify the culprits and to bring them to justice.

The court was informed that on July 30, 2020, the sealed parcel of black bag of cloth and pieces of black tape were handed over to the authority PFSA for analysis and expert opinion. On the same day, the IGP submitted that the sealed parcel of pieces of clothes recovered from the place of recovery of the alleged abductee were handed over to PFSA Lahore for safe custody till the arrest of the accused persons involved in the crime for analysis.

It further submitted that after the constitution of joint investigation team, the investigation will be carried out by the JIT.

The Supreme Court on July 23 had taken notice of journalist Matiullah Jan's abduction from the capital and had directed the Islamabad police chief to submit a report on the incident in two weeks.