High Court Summons Military Over Missing Kashmiri Poet

A Pakistani high court summoned military and civilian intelligence agencies regarding the disappearance of Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmad Farhad Shah, missing since May 15. The court expressed dissatisfaction with law enforcement agencies' efforts. Human Rights Commission demands his immediate release, highlighting Shah's work on missing persons.

A Pakistan high court on Friday summoned the military and civilian intelligence agencies in a case about the disappearance of a Kashmiri poet and journalist.

Ahmad Farhad Shah had been missing since May 15 when he was allegedly abducted from his house in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. His wife on the same day had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for his recovery.

Senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who has been hearing the case, on Friday, expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of various law enforcement agencies, wondering at the fate of the missing poet.

"It has been 10 days (since Shah went missing). I don't know what state the poor person must be in," Justice Kayani remarked.

He was then announced to summon the sector commanders of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), the director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and the defence and interior secretaries on the next hearing on May 29.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan and Islamabad Inspector General (IG) Ali Nasir Rizvi appeared before the court. The petitioner's counsel Imaan Mazari-Hazir was also present.

The court also appointed the secretary of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and senior journalist Hamid Mir as judicial assistants in the case.

The judge on May 16 summoned a report from the defence secretary on the alleged role of intelligence agencies in the poet's disappearance.

Earlier this week expressing dissatisfaction with the working of the defence secretary, the judge had called on intelligence agencies to shed the label of culpability in abductions.

Earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had called for the immediate release of Shah, who through his poetry had highlighted the issue of missing persons in the country.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)