The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the investigation officer (IO) of Sambrial police station in Sialkot in a case related to alleged kidnap of Sambrial Press Club Chairman Rana Shahid Mahmood. Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of the LHC passed the order on the plea moved by the son of the journalist who went missing from Sambrial. The judge directed the police to produce Rana Shahid Mahmood in the court and adjourned further hearing till Aug 6. The directives came after police failed to locate Mahmood who was allegedly kidnapped on July 1 from a local cafe in Sambrial. Rana Fraz Shahid, the son of the journalist, approached the Lahore High Court that his father went missing.

He said unknown people picked up his father from a local cafe. He said his father was a professional journalist and a social worker. The unknown men, he said, shifted him to some unknown location after kidnapping him. He asked the court to direct police to recover his father. “My father Rana Shahid Mahmood went missing a month ago but police failed to trace him,” said Fraz Shahid. Surprisingly, he said, his father was kidnapped in the presence of local police. People wearing police uniforms were also present there, he added. Tahir Sarwar, the nephew of the kidnapped journalist, had lodged the FIR 1426/24 with the Sambrial police station under Section 365 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan