LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain on Monday sought comments of the ISI director general (DG) on media reports that the Jinnah Hospital Lahore’s missing doctors was in the agency’s custody. The judge observed, “Five months have passed since the news was published on July 17, 2010 that the ISI had picked Dr Ali Abdullah but until now the ISI has not issued any clarification about the news story.” Justice Hussain was hearing a petition filed by Dr Abdullah’s father Dr Sarfaraz seeking recovery of his son who was allegedly in the ISI’s custody. The judge said that the intelligence agency’s silence on the news gives air to some serious doubts and the ISI DG should explain his position in this regard. The court ordered the attorney general to take his comments and inform the court within 15 days.
An English newspaper reporter Abdul Manan had published the abduction story of the missing doctor alleged that he was in the ISI’s custody. On Monday, the judge also ordered two police investigation teams, constituted earlier to trace whereabouts of Dr Abdullah, to appear in the court on the case’s next hearing to inform about the latest developments in the case. The Garden Town Police Station investigation incharge, where FIR of the doctor’s disappearance was lodged, also submitted a progress report stating that no clue could be found until now about whereabouts of Dr Abdullah. The report said that nobody including doctors of the Jinnah Hospital, his close friends and relatives had any idea that what had happened to him. Similarly, the ISI said that the doctor was neither taken into custody nor was wanted in any matter, the report said.
The case’s next hearing would be fixed in the second week of January 2011. The petitioner submitted in his petition that his son worked at the Jinnah Hospital and was missing since many days. He alleged that personnel of secret agencies had abducted him when Dr Abdullah was returning home from the hospital on his motorcycle. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah made a statement in the Punjab Assembly last month that Dr Abdullah was in custody of intelligence agencies. The minister’s statement deepened the mystery and the court started its efforts afresh. CIA SP Omer Virk, the defence and interior ministries in their written replies had informed the court that agencies working under their control had no knowledge about whereabouts of the doctor.
