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- May 29, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
Ahmed Farhad Shah, the poet who has gone missing, is being held by the Dhirkot police in Azad Kashmir, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was notified on Wednesday. The development occurred while Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, senior puisne judge of the Indian High Court, was resuming hearing a petition for the recovery of the missing Kashmiri poet. Shah was allegedly kidnapped on May 15 from his residence, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded his immediate release. The same day, Shah’s wife filed a petition with the IHC asking for his recovery, his appearance in court, and the identification, tracking down, and prosecution of those accountable for his absence.
Justice Kayani had requested a report from the defense secretary on May 16 about the purported involvement of intelligence services in the poet’s disappearance. The judge had demanded last week that intelligence services stop taking responsibility for kidnappings. The court was notified that Shah was not under Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI) custody after requesting an explanation from the defense secretary by 3 p.m. on the same day. Following a hearing, Justice Kayani gave Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan an order to locate the missing poet in four days, for which he accepted “full responsibility.” Justice Kayani posed a series of specific inquiries on missing persons in his lengthy order during the previous hearing. Even though he had also mandated that all cases involving missing persons be streamed live, the case of today was not.
The judge also called in today the head of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, the defense, law, and interior secretaries, as well as the sector commanders of the Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). AGP Awan, the law minister, and Additional Attorney General (AAG) Munawar Iqbal Duggal made an appearance in court today. In attendance were petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, and senior journalist Hamid Mir, who was assigned as a judicial assistant. Shah was placed under police custody, AGP Awan told the court, and he also gave the police report.
According to Justice Kayani, the poet was detained following the Kohala Bridge and subsequently had his jurisdiction established. Shah was the subject of a first information report (FIR), which Dawn.com has a copy of. The incident occurred just one hour prior, at the Dhirkot police station, at around 8 a.m. The state’s complaint against Kohala checkpost in-charge Shaukat led to the filing of a formal complaint under section 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with hindering public servants in the performance of their official duties. A “carry van” with registration number 4368-RIF was stopped at the checkpost at approximately 7 a.m. today, coming from Kohala Chowk, according to the FIR.
A “passenger in the van misbehaved and used harsh language” against checkpost personnel when the driver was asked to produce his identity card. He also disobeyed the verification procedure. After being asked to exit the car, the passenger identified himself as Ahmed Farhad Shah when questioned about his personal information, the allegation continued. Shah was further mentioned in the article as stating that he was traveling from Rawalpindi to his ancestral village in Azad Kashmir. Then, according to the FIR, he tried to meddle in the official’s work.