Sambrial police ordered to produce missing journalist Rana Shahid Mahmood before LHC

Lahore:  The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned the Investigation Officer (IO) of Sambrial Police Station in Sialkot district in a case related to the kidnapping of Sambrial Press Club Chairman Rana Shahid Mahmood.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of the LHC passed the order on the plea moved by the son of the journalist who went missing from Sambrial.

The judge directed the police to produce Rana Shahid Mahmood before the court and adjourned further hearing till August 6, 2024.

The directives came after the police failed to locate Rana Shahid Mahmood who was kidnapped midnight on July 1, 2024 from a local café in Sambrial.

Rana Fraz Shahid, the son of the journalist, approached the Lahore High Court  that his father went missing on mid-night July 1, 2024. 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 location after kidnapping him.

He asked the court to direct the police to recover his father.

“My father Rana Shahid Mahmood went missing a month ago but the police failed to trace him,” said Fraz Shahid.

Surprisingly, he said, his father was kidnapped in presence of 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.