M. M. ALAM
KARACHI: Sources privy to NewsPakistan.TV have revealed that Barrister Owais Ali Shah, the kidnapped son of Sindh High Court’s Chief Justice, has been smuggled out of Sindh. According to reliable means attempt is being made to take him further North to KPK.
Law enforcement agencies’ personnel, still clueless in the Chief Justice (CJ) of Sindh High Court’s son’s kidnapping case, were scheduled to go Central Prison Karachi on Wednesday to interrogate five alleged terrorists belonging to banned radical organizations, presently incarcerated in the barracks 17, 18 and 20.
Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah met Karachi Corps Commander Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar and discussed various aspects of law and order situation. The two particularly focused on CJ’s son’s kidnapping. Meanwhile, Inspector General Sindh Police A. D. Khawaja told that ‘sensitive agencies’ have been contacted for support in the case. He further informed that no phone call claiming responsibility for kidnapping has been received so far.
Sindh Bar Council, threatening to demonstrate, has demanded recovery of CJ’s son in a week. While some believe that the kidnappers’ objective is to use him as a bargaining chip facilitating release of their colleagues, many reckon this move as an attempt to influence the judiciary.
The high-drama unfolded as CJ’s son was kidnapped at 2PM on Monday following shopping at Clifton’s Agha’s Super Market. Four people wearing Police caps and white shalwar qameez (normal garb of so-called sensitive agencies’ ‘plain-clothed’ agents) took him away in a tinted-glassed white Toyota Corolla car bearing Sindh Police number plate SP 0586.
Shah’s Silver car AZT 535 was found abandoned. It was later towed away by police. His cell phone had been turned off.
It transpired after due monitoring of the SSU surveillance cameras footage that the white car followed Barrister Owais right from the High Court to Clifton. The kidnappers let Owais park his car in the Agha’s parking and go inside. Meanwhile, they placed their vehicle just adjacent to Owais’s. When Owais emerged from the Agha’s with a small bag, they tried to get hold of him. As he cried for help, one of the kidnappers punched him on the face while others grabbed him by arms and shoved into the car.
One can easily visualize the circumstances that prevented the crowd there from reacting: The guards and the bystanders saw four members of ‘law-enforcement agencies in plain clothes – albeit wearing police caps’ – taking a ‘suspicious’ person in custody. Simple! One of the parking-lot attendants told that the masked kidnappers were armed with Kalashnikov.
From Agha’s Super Market, kidnappers drove on Sunset Boulevard towards Korangi Road. They turned right and passing through congested patch turned left and speedily headed towards Baloch colony using Expressway and disappeared in thin air.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who headed an urgently-called meeting with the representatives of law-enforcing agencies to review the situation, had ordered an all-out-rescue operation. Meanwhile, Government of Sindh has announced Rs. 10 million, Rangers has announced an award of Rs. 2.5million for anybody providing a clue leading to the release of Owais and apprehension of the culprits.
Intelligence agencies, maintaining that the kidnappers were terrorists, held that the wanted to influence the judiciary. It has also been said that three vehicles took part in execution of kidnapping plan.
