Glaring disparities between police, petitioner’s claims

The police report submitted on Friday before the Sindh High Court (SHC) bench hearing the case of disappearance of Khalid Shamim – a political activist reported to be allegedly involved in the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Imran Farooq in London last year – has made the matter more mysterious.
A division bench comprising SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Imam Bux Baloch is proceeding with the constitutional petition filed by the wife of the missing person, an employee of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. In her plea, Veena Khalid had stated that on January 16 while she and her husband reached the Malir Halt area, six people in two silver-coloured double cabin vehicles bearing green [government] number plates took her husband away.
She stated that no criminal case was registered against Shamim at any police station of the country and her husband had also never travelled abroad. Naming two men, Chaudhry Basheer and Chaudhry Amin, to be involved in the abduction of her husband, Veena had prayed that the court orders the immediate release of her husband.
However, the report submitted in the court by the District East police describes that the claims of Shamim’s wife are incorrect. Sindh Additional Advocate General (AAG) told the bench that according to media reports, the suspect was arrested at the Karachi airport on August 27 by the security agencies of the country on the charge of involvement in murdering Dr Farooq.
He sought some more time for the authorities concerned to get information on the issue. The AAG also disclosed that the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) East Zone in his report stated that Veena’s claim of Shamim never being involved in any criminal activity was untrue, as a murder case was registered against him at the Model Colony police station in which he was declared an absconder.
According to the records of Federal Investigation Agency and Karachi airport, the suspect had also travelled to United Arab Emirates, South Africa and London many times. Rejecting the claim of Veena about the involvement of Chaudhry Basheer and Chaudhry Amin in the abduction of her husband, the AAG also presented the documentary evidence of Shamim’s involvement in a murder case and his travels abroad before the bench.
After hearing the arguments, the SHC division bench ordered the Sindh government representative and the Karachi police to submit a detailed report regarding the whereabouts of Shamim and the progress in murder case registered against the suspect at Model Colony. In the last week of August, reports in some newspapers citing unnamed sources had claimed that Shamim being the mastermind of Dr Farooq murder case was arrested from the Karachi airport along with two alleged killers.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik had clarified before the media that no arrests had been made in connection with the high-profile murder case.