LAHORE – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned Sialkot Dustrict Police Officer (DPO) in a case related to recovery of missing journalist Rana Shahid Mahmood.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of the LHC passed the order.
Barrister Karimullah Sraw represented petitioner Fraz Shahid, the son of the missing journalist while Sittar Sahil was the law officer on behalf of the state in the court. The SP investigation, DSP and other police officials were also present there.
The police informed the court that they failed to recover the missing journalist.
The court summoned the DPO and adjourned the hearing till Sept 12.
On last hearing, the court had directed a deputy superintendent for recovery of the journalist.
Rana Shahid Mahmood was the chairman of Sambrial Press Club.
The petitioner said his father, being a journalist, reported against the drug dealers.
“The CCTV footage we have provided to the police will help in the investigation,” said the petitioner.
He asked the court to order the police to recover his father.
Rana Shahid Mahmood was kidnapped at midnight on July 1, 2024 from a local café in Sambrial.
He said that some unknown people picked up his father from a local café. He said his father is a professional journalist and a social worker. The unknown men, he said, shifted him to some unknown place after kidnapping him.
“My father Rana Shahid Mahmood went missing a month ago but the police could not trace him so far,” said Fraz Shahid.
Surprisingly, he said, his father was kidnapped in presence of the local police as per the CCTV footage that surfaced at the later stage. The individuals wearing police uniforms were also present there, he added.
He said that they had been running from pillar to post for his safe recovery but could not find any clue so far.
Tahir Sarwar, the nephew of the kidnapped journalist, had lodged the FIR 1426/24 with Sambrial police station under Section 365 of Pakistan Penal Code 1860.
He told the police that his uncle, who is a known journalist in the local area and the chairman of Sambrial Press Club, was picked up by 20 to 25 unknown people who were wearing the masks at the time of the kidnapping.
He said that Rana Shahid Mahmood was picked up from a local café in Sambrial on midnight July 1, 2024.
The unknown persons reached there on five five pickup trucks [vigo dalas], Kia Sportage and a Honda Civic car. The complainant said that they picked the journalist at gun-point and took him away to some unknown location. The kidnappers, he said, also took away the CDR of the CCTV installed there at the café.
