SHC orders police to obtain info from Rangers about missing persons

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the police investigation officer on Wednesday to collect information from the Rangers headquarters with regard to the whereabouts of missing persons.

Hearing petitions against enforced disappearances of citizens allegedly at the hands of personnel of law enforcement agencies, a division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, observed that families of missing persons had alleged that the Rangers personnel had picked up their relatives.

The police investigation officer submitted that he had written letters to the Rangers to verify the arrest or detention of the missing persons. The court observed that it is the duty of the investigation officer to ascertain the whereabouts of citizens who had been made to disappear either by Rangers personnel or others.

The court observed that it is very dangerous if someone else takes away the missing persons by using the Rangers uniform. It directed the investigation officer to collect information on the whereabouts of Waqar Rehman, Shamshad Ali and other missing persons who were alleged to have been picked up by paramilitary soldiers from different parts of Karachi.

The Rangers counsel however denied the arrest or detention of the missing persons. The court also directed the federal and provincial law officers to submit a progress report with regard to the recovery of the missing persons.

Encroachment

The high court issued notices to the deputy commissioner of District East and others on a petition against encroachments on the Pakistan Post Office Society’s land.

The petitioners said they were allottees of the Pakistan Post Office Society’s Sector A, whose land had been encroached upon by land grabbers. They submitted that the high court had earlier ordered the removal of the encroachments, but the order had not been complied with.

They said over 2,000 allotted people were facing hardships due to encroachments on their rightful piece of land. The court directed the deputy commissioner and others to file comments on the petition by January 20.