PHC summons IO in KP minister Fazal Shakoor kidnapping case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday summoned the investigation officer (IO) in the alleged kidnapping case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan.

A division bench comprising Senior Puisne Judge Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel heard a petition seeking the recovery of the provincial minister.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer told the court that Fazal Shakoor had allegedly been abducted in broad daylight near the Peshawar M-1 motorway toll plaza.

The lawyer stated that armed men in plain clothes opened fire at the tyres of the minister’s vehicle before taking him away.

Justice Ijaz Anwar questioned the identity of the armed men and asked what the police were doing at the time of the incident.

“Who are these armed men? What is the police doing?” the judge asked.

The court also asked whether a first information report (FIR) had been registered. The government lawyer confirmed that an FIR had been filed.

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that police and Excise Department checkpoints were present near the location where the minister was abducted, but the personnel deployed there did not intervene.

Additional Advocate General Bilal Khalil requested that a judicial inquiry be conducted into the incident.

The court summoned the investigation officer and adjourned the hearing until September 25.

The petition was filed on Tuesday, a day after the minister and two other people accompanying him were allegedly abducted by unidentified armed men near Peshawar’s M-1 toll plaza.

Read More: Key official contacts PTI over ‘Long March’ to Islamabad

An FIR was registered at Chamkani police station on kidnapping charges on the complaint of the minister’s brother, retired Major Anwar Aziz.

According to the FIR, Fazal Shakoor, his driver Qaiser Khan and Constable Mujahid were allegedly abducted.

The petition, filed through advocate Bashir Khan Wazir, asked the PHC to direct police and other law enforcement agencies to recover the minister, whose whereabouts remain unknown to his family.

It also sought directions to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general and capital city police officer to constitute a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the incident and take steps for the minister’s recovery.