Pakistani authorities detained Abid Boxer in February, LHC told

July 18, 2018

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LAHORE: The caretaker government on Wednesday informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that Abid Boxer has been in the custody of Pakistani authorities since February this year.

Justice Anwarul Haq was hearing the case, where Deputy Attorney General Syed Zafar Abbas Gilani told the court that the former police officer had been shifted to Pakistan from Dubai in February.

Furthermore, Justice Haq ordered the relevant authorities to produce Boxer and the FIA director before the court on July 27.

Boxer’s father-in-law claims that a number of fabricated cases had been registered against his son-in-law on the basis of political victimisation and has sought protection the accused.

Earlier, it was reported that Boxer, a former police officer involved in a dozen of cases was arrested in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) in connection to a fraud case and was sent back to Pakistan via Interpol.

He had been wanted by the police for involvement in over a dozen cases of murder, attempted murder, land-grabbing and others in Punjab.

However, in March, the reports of his arrest were denied by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Punjab Police, who told the court that he had yet to be extradited to Pakistan.

The director FIA had reiterated the Interior Ministry’s claim in the LHC during the hearing of a petition filed by Boxer’s father-in-law seeking protection for his son-in-law that no agency had brought Boxer back to Pakistan.

Abid Hussain had joined the police department in 1988 as an assistant sub-inspector. He was later promoted to the rank of inspector. He fled Pakistan in 2008 after the police lodged cases against him under murder, attempted murder, fraud and forgery charges.

The murder case that forced Hussain to flee Pakistan was lodged against him at Qila Gujjar Singh police station after the death of a retired army brigadier, Naseem Ashraf.

In February, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan alleged that the former inspector had confessed to killing people on the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.