The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday hinted at initiation of contempt of court proceedings over bureaucratic delay in implementing the court orders about paying compensation amount to the family of a citizen, missing since 2015.
Nasreen Begum had filed a habeas corpus petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) during 2019, claiming that law enforcement agencies had picked up her son Imran Khan in broad daylight of May 15, 2015 for some investigation with a promise that he would be returned to home once probe is over.
Invoking the jurisdiction of the IHC, the counsel for Nasreen Begum, Col (retd) Inamur Rahim submitted an affidavit that her client’s son being an information technology expert was drawing salary of AED3000 per month from UAE, claiming that he was abducted when he was on visit to Islamabad to attend his sister’s marriage.
The counsel for the petitioner also informed the court that the Commission of Enforced Disappearance after recording the evidence of the JIT has ruled that it was proved to be the case of enforced disappearance.
Resultantly, the court issued directives to the federal Interior Ministry and others to pay compensation amount to the tune of AED2,22000 to the family of the disappeared, observing that till the time of his recovery, it was responsibility of the state to provide livelihood to the missing person.
During the last hearing of the case on June 30, the bench observed, “It is the failure of the state that it could not protect the life and liberty of a citizen who was missing from Islamabad during the broad daylight. The court has directed the respondents to complete the process of compensation amount and submit compliance amount on July 26.
During the course of hearing on Monday, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Syed Tayyab Shah, submitted that the Interior Ministry through a letter had asked the mother of the missing person to submit the last salary slip of her son. The DAG also produced a copy of the letter before the court. However, the Chief Justice observed there was no need to write such a letter after the orders of this court.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed, “It seems to be a bureaucratic delay which amounts to contempt of the constitutional court of the capital which directed on the previous date that a case of compensation to the family would be processed”.
Later, the bench issued directives to the authorities concerned to pay the compensation in light of the affidavit submitted by the petitioner Nasreen Begum and submit compliance report to it till August 03.
The writer heads a leading news wire service ‘The Law Today Pakistan’ commonly known as TLTP. He has a special focus on news relating to superior courts adjudication, access to right of information, civil, political, social and economic rights under the approach that existing cyber regime realization ensures procedural fairness in administrative law. He can be reached at editor@tltpnews.com
