Pakistan: Peshawar court summons Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM on rising cases of 'enforced disappearances'

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 7 : The Peshawar High Court has ordered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to appear before it on July 22 to report on the measures taken by his government to address the "growing incidence of enforced disappearances" in the province, particularly by the police and counter-terrorism department, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim issued the order during the hearing into a habeas corpus petition by resident Hazrat Nabi against the "illegal detention" of his brother, Abdul Said. In the plea, the petitioner accused the police of demanding a ransom of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 7 million for the release of the detainee.
During the hearing, Advocate Malik Sarfaraz Khan represented the petitioner.
Khan said Abdul Said was apprehended by the station house officer of the Zaida police station in Swabi district from Gulberg Super Market in Peshawar on June 10. However, he was not involved in any criminal case.
Malik Sarfaraz Khan further said that the detainee was in the illegal custody of the SHO, who demanded PKR 7 million from the petitioner as "ransom" for the release of the detainee. The lawyer urged the court to issue orders to the provincial inspector general of police and other police officers to present the detainee before it.
He called the detainee a law-abiding citizen, whose illegal detention was against the constitutional provisions guaranteeing his fundamental rights, according to Dawn report.
The bench observed, "Unfortunately, not only in this case but in so many other cases, this court has noted that on one hand cases of 'missing persons' are alarmingly increasing day by day, particularly in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but on the other, the aggrieved parties are levelling allegations of such disappearances against the police officials, including those of the CTD, and that for the release of such missing person(s), the police officials and CTD officials are demanding a huge ransom from the family members of the missing person(s)."
The bench said that the examination of the "flow of the cases of missing persons, particularly allegations against the police and CTD" and the court was left with no option but to summon the chief minister to give details regarding the steps taken by his government to address the issue of enforced disappearances.
Several cases of "enforced disappearances" are pending with the high court with families accusing law-enforcement agencies of taking away their loved ones and not disclosing their whereabouts, according to Dawn report.
In one case, the disappearance of four brothers of a business family was challenged in court. One of the family members said that her brothers -- Mohammad Nasir Alkozai, Usman Alkozai, Abdul Waris Alkozai and Zahir Alkozai were kidnapped by people wearing police uniforms from their residence in Peshawar's Hayatabad Township on February 28.
She also showed CCTV footage of the "kidnapping" in the court, Dawn reported. Although the petition remains pending in the court, the police have expressed ignorance over the incident.