Woman searches for missing husband

RAWALPINDI, July 31: A poor woman along with her three kids has been running from pillar to post to find her husband who had disappeared about three months ago from a village in Gujar Khan.

Talking to Dawn in district court here on Thursday Nazia Akhtar said that her husband Ulfat Mahmood a resident of village Moori Rajgan in the jurisdiction of Jatli Police Station was the driver of Munir Shahzad.

She said her ordeal began when Munir Shahzad got registered an FIR under section 406 PPC against Ulfat and his friend Hanif for stealing his vehicle. Since then her husband had been missing.

She said that she tried to register an abduction case against Hanif after recovery of the vehicle but he obtained pre-arrest bail. With tears rolling in her eyes, she feared that her husband might have been killed.

She said she tried to lodge a criminal case against Hanif with area police but her all efforts ended in smoke. Nazia said that District Session Judge Rawalpindi had directed the SHO concerned about the recording of her statement but no case had been registered. She further said that she had submitted applications to Chief Minister Punjab, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi and other concerned authorities but to no avail.

She told that she had been suffering a lot in the absence of her husband as it was too difficult for her to feed her three children Sunbal Mehmood, 9, Afaq Mehmood, 10 and Ihtsham Mehmood, 12. She said the 75-year-old ailing mother of the missing Ulfat had been waiting for her son hoping he would be alive and return soon.

When area SHO was contacted, he said that both Ulfat and Hanif were friends and together they went to Lahore by taking the vehicle of Munir Shehzad.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/1/2008