Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday gave Islamabad police chief two weeks deadline to submit a report on the abduction of prominent journalist Matiullah Jan, who was later freed following massive outrage across the country.
Jan, who is highly critical of the government and the security institutions of the country, was freed on Tuesday, hours after he was abducted by plainclothes and uniformed personnel in the national capital.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, hearing a suo motu case of alleged contemptuous tweets by Jan took notice of his abduction.
Justice Gulzar summoned the Islamabad police chief in the next hearing and questioned why the police had not recorded the journalist’s statement hours after he was released by his abductors.
“What are the institutions doing?” he asked the attorney general.
Representatives of Pakistan Bar Council and journalists attended the hearing.
Earlier, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the habeas corpus petition against Jan’s abduction filed by his family on Tuesday.
The court took prompt action and ordered Secretary Interior, Commissioner, Islamabad and Inspector General, Islamabad to produce the journalist on Wednesday or personally appear before the court.
Chief Justice Minallah noted that CCTV footage showed that some kidnappers were in police uniforms.
“Someone has the nerve to do such a thing in police uniforms… What impression will the public get that people are roaming around freely in police uniforms,” he said.
He said the vehicle used in the incident had police headlights and the kidnappers also wanted to “scare” other people.
When Islamabad Police Deputy Inspector General for Operations Waqar ud Din told the court that an FIR was registered, the Chief Justice said it was a test case for police.
“If there is no rule of law, there will be nothing here except chaos,” Justice Minallah said and wrapped up the case.
