KARACHI  -   The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday expressed it annoyance over the failure of police for the recovery of missing persons, who were allegedly, forcibly disappeared across the metropolis.

While conducting hearing on several identical petitions filed by families of missing persons seeking safe recovery of their beloved, a division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto remarked that the court will not tolerate further negligence by the police which still failed to recover missing persons. 

The bench refused police reports and observed that they still failed to trace whereabouts of missing persons. The court also made it clear that the relevant police officers will have to go to jail if they fail to recover such persons.

“In many cases, IOs would submit stereotypical reports in courts and that there had been no progress in any case,” said Justice Phulpoto while passing his remarks, adding that citizens were becoming increasingly disappointed by such reports. He added that strict actions would be taken against the officials if no progress was made in such cases.

In his remarks, he also said that the police should fear God and make an effort to recover missing persons at the earliest.

During the hearing, a police officer, investigating a certain missing person case, has appeared before the court and submitted a briefed-progress report informing that law enforcement agencies were working on the recovery of one Mohammad Javed who had gone missing from the Sohrab Goth area in 2015. In another case of the disappearance of a citizen, Sohail, letters had been written to the Rangers and other agencies, but police had not received a reply.

The court summoned progress reports from the police, Rangers, Sindh government and other parties on January 9, 2019.

The bench also issued direction to the Inspector General of Sindh police for make serious efforts for recovery of missing persons and also directed to personally look into such matters. The court also issued notice to the concerned police officials and home department on different petitions filed recently for the sake of recovery of missing persons.  

The court also issued a show cause notice to the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Gulberg after expressing displeasure that he was not present in court during a hearing on the disappearance of Pasban General Secretary Usman Moazzam’s son Saeed Rafique.