Haseeb Hamza, who had reportedly gone “missing” in August has been produced before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by the police, a day after the court issued a strict warning to the police and intelligence agencies to locate him by Wednesday.

His father, Zulfikar Ali, told the court that his son phoned him in the morning to inform him that he was near the Shifa International Hospital in the capital.

During the hearing today (Wednesday), IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Justice Minallah asked Haseeb where he had been, to which he replied that he was blindfolded at the time he was taken and had no knowledge of where he was.

Haseeb’s father had filed a petition in IHC, which stated that on the night between August 22 and August 23, around 20 people — 15 of them in black uniforms — entered his house without a warrant and whisked away his son along with a laptop computer, five mobile phones and some documents.

After Hamza’s return, Justice Minallah ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to conduct an investigation into the kidnapping case and to submit a report to the registrar of the high court by September 22.

’Produce missing person by tomorrow, else intelligence services must appear at court’, Court directs police

A day earlier, Justice Minallah gave strict orders to find Hamze by 10am tomorrow (Wednesday).

The court also added that if the person is not produced by tomorrow, sector commanders of Military Intelligence (MI), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Special Branch and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) must appear before the court.

His father Zulfikar Ali filed a petition in which he said his son was picked up from their home on August 22. According to him, he filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the time but all in vain.

Zulfikar had said that his son was a labourer who worked in Layyah in Punjab.

The IGP duly appeared before the court and confirmed that FIR had been lodged.

Moreover, the petition said that the police say that Haseeb is with the intelligence agencies.

Justice Minallah said that under an earlier court verdict IGP and other concerned officials should be held responsible for the disappearance of a citizen.

Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif appeared before IHC and assured the court that all-out efforts will be made to recover missing persons.

“I cannot say that all of the missing persons will be recovered, but we will leave no stone unturned”, he had promised.