ISLAMABAD: The capital police have ignored a government directive to register a case about missing persons and referred it to the police station concerned in Mardan. They also intend to approach Malakand and Mardan police to determine jurisdiction of the case, senior police officials told Dawn.
According to them, Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif lodged a complaint at the Secretariat police station on Wednesday. It said a case might be registered in Islamabad against Naib Subedar Amanullah, in charge of the Malakand internment centre, and others so that they could be proceeded against in accordance with the law.
Police registered the complaint in their daily dairy (Roznamcha), but on the directives of their seniors sent it to the Katlang police station in Mardan.
In his application, the defence minister said: “An HR case No 29388-K of 2013 in respect of missing persons is pending before the Supreme Court. Muhabbat Shah, resident of Ghala village in tehsil Katlang, Mardan district, has filed an application in the court with regard to his brother Yasin Shah, who has been missing since 2010 and his whereabouts are not known.”
During a court hearing on Oct 24 last year, the application said, it was disclosed in a letter of the superintendent judicial lockup, Malakand, addressed to the additional registrar of Peshawar High Court that 35 undeclared internees had been taken away by Amanullah and others.
It claimed that so far 28 of the 35 persons had resurfaced and some of them were produced before the Supreme Court. At present only seven persons, including Yasin Shah, are missing.
“Amanullah and others are, as per the orders of the honourable Supreme Court on Dec 10, responsible for illegal removal and confinement of the said persons,” Khawaja Asif said in the complaint.
The police officials were of the opinion that since these persons had not been picked up from Islamabad, the capital police registered the complaint in the daily diary. The case should be registered with police of the area where these people disappeared or were taken away.
The complaint had been sent to the Katlang police station because Yasin Shah was a resident of a village which fell under its jurisdiction, they added.
They said it was not known whether Katlang police had registered the case. Katlang police might send the complaint to the Malakand internment centre because the internees had been taken away from there, the officials said.
They said a police officer had been sent to the Katlang police station to discuss the issue of jurisdiction and after that a decision would be taken about registration of the case in Islamabad.