On Monday, the Islamabad High Court issued notices to the home and defense secretaries, and former inspector-general of police Aamir Zulfiqar Khan in a missing person’s case.

A single-member bench presided over by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was hearing a petition filed by Zainab Zaeem Khan, wife of Abdullah Omar, who has been missing since June 2015. During the hearing, the judge was irked by the unpreparedness of concerned officers and warned of action against the home secretary and the present Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman.

Justice Kayani observed that the inability to recover missing persons showed incompetence of the government and the State. “Islamabad Police can only stop petty crimes," he remarked, adding that recovering missing persons was not their cup of tea. He further said that security agencies have failed to protect citizens and issued notices to home and defense secretaries and former IGP of Islamabad Police.