Pakistan high court judge comes down heavily on authorities over their failure to recover missing poet

Islamabad, May 20 (PTI) In stern remarks against the authorities for their failure to recover a missing Kashmiri poet and journalist, a Pakistan High Court judge on Monday questioned whether spy agencies would run the country or the law, a media report said.
     Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was hearing a petition filed by the wife of Ahmed Farhad Shah who was allegedly abducted from his house in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir last week, Geo News reported.
     His wife moved the IHC on May 15 and requested the court to identify, investigate and prosecute those responsible for his disappearance.
     At the beginning of today’s hearing, a Ministry of Defence representative apprised the court that “hostage (Shah) is not with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)”.
     He further said that the intelligence agency was refuting the allegation about its involvement in the enforced disappearance of the poet.
     At this, Justice Kayani remarked that the matter was “now beyond the jurisdiction of the ISI and Military Intelligence (MI)”, and added that “they are telling about their failure”.
     Justice Kayani directed the defence secretary to submit its report to the high court in writing. The judge ordered the defence and interior secretaries to appear before the court today, the report said.
     The judge further said that he would also summon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the cabinet members in the case later.
     Justice Kayani said the matter was “not so simple and an example had to be set in this case”.
     The judge said, “They [spy agencies] are sending messages [to the family] but on the other hand they are saying that the person is not in their custody.”
     The law enforcement agencies have failed to recover the abducted person, he added.
     Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Monday told the judiciary that it did not have the mandate of dragging senior military officers and government officials to the court in the case.
     “This is not the mandate of the court, the court is a platform for providing justice in line with the law and Constitution,” Tarar said during a press conference in Islamabad.
     The law minister termed the remarks of the judge as “inappropriate” and said they could spread “unrest”. He said that a representative of the Defence Ministry had already informed the court that the poet was not in their custody.
     “It is not the court’s mandate to say that these issues ‘will not be resolved like this’. The institutions also informed the court that they are ready to assist the police in any way possible,” he said.
     Tarar said that media channels, citing the judge, reported that he would summon the prime minister and his cabinet and this “undermined the sanctity of parliament”.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)