2005-11-13 - LHC judge 'was told of Sonia’s abduction when it happened' (ISP Online)
ISLAMABAD: The Sonia Naz case took a new turn after a senior lawyer in Lahore MD Tahir confirmed to police inquiry team the other day that he had informed Justice Rustum Ali Malik of Lahore High Court on May 6 that Sonia was abducted to stop her from pursuing cases against SP Abdullah Khalid.
MD Tahir’s statement is of much importance as it was recorded on the orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Earlier the police team had ignored this important witness of Sonia case.
Meanwhile Sonia Naz has accused DIG Aslam Tareen inquiry team of distorting her statement and that of her in-laws in the inquiry report submitted before the chief justice last week to misguide him. She alleged the Punjab police was trying to bail out SP Khalid Abdullah at all costs and efforts were being made to distort the facts.
Sonia who got the copy of Tareen committee wondered that many important points were deliberately deleted from her statement and quoted out of context to establish in the report that she was perhaps telling lies.
She requested CJ to appoint DIG Zafar Qureshi and SP Saad Bharwana to submit the Challan in the light of their investigations. She again thanked CJ for giving justice despite attempts to block justice by powers-that-be.
The statement of MD Tahir may give a new twist to Sonia case as it marks the first time that a top lawyer, who was actually representing Sonia cases in the court before her abduction, has now brought this fact on record that he had told the High Court in advance that her client was kidnapped to stop her from perusing cases against SP Abdullah.
Sonia was abducted on May 3 from Lahore by SP Khalid Abdullah and MD Tahir brought this stunning fact before the LHC on May 6 — the day when court was to take a final decision on Sonia’s writ petition against SP Abdullah for keeping her husband in illegal custody and allegedly torturing and taking bribe from him.
Talking to The News from Lahore, MD Tahir complained the police inquiry team led by Aslam Tareen did not allow him to complete his statement. “The committee had promised to complete the statement the next day, but Aslam Tareen and others did not turn up to record my full statement despite the fact that I waited for them the whole day in my office keeping the importance of Sonia case in view.”
He said that Sonia had met him in his office to discuss her case on May 2 — a day before she was kidnapped as next date of hearing was on May 6. But, all of a sudden she disappeared and did not turn up to attend the hearing.
MD Tahir said he then contacted Sonia’s father-in-law Malik Yousaf who, too, was running to save his life because SP Khalid Abdullah had registered a fake case against him that was later dismissed by court after it was found that it was framed by SP Abdullah to get more money from the family.
However, Malik Yousaf refused to attend the case hearing fearing that SP Abdullah might arrest him along with his daughters, and he was hiding. MD Tahir said he brought all these facts before the courts.
He tried to persuade the court not to dismiss the petitions of Sonia in her absence because she was abducted only to stop her from pursuing her cases. But, court did not take his request into consideration and finally, her petitions were dismissed.
In the meanwhile, The News reporter, who broke Sonia’s story has contradicted the statement of DIG Tareen before Honourable Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhary that said the reporter was not ready to record his statement.
The reporter has clarified that he was ready to appear before the committee as he did in the case of Zafar Qureshi committee but Tareen never told him to appear before him. He said even after the CJ’s order, Tareen did not contact him to record his statement.
The News reporter said DIG Tareen had misled the CJ and as such it amounted to contempt of court and he would bring this fact into the notice of SC through lawyer Zafar Ali Shah on Monday.