PESHAWAR, Oct 30: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday sought explanation from the Inter-Services Intelligence director general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home secretary on the killing of a missing person allegedly in the custody of the law-enforcement agencies.

The two were asked by acting Chief Justice Miftauddin Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth to let the bench know under what law, Zahoorullah Khan was picked up and under what circumstances, he was killed.

The hearing was later adjourned until Nov 28.

Haji Mir Aslam Khan had moved the court, claiming his son was taken away by plainclothesmen accompanied by police from his hujra in Mathani area on Aug 24, 2012.

He said local police denied his son’s arrest and later, he was found dead at a deserted place in the area.

In another case, the bench directed the station house officer (SHO) of Takhtbhai police station in Mardan to complete investigation into the killing of a missing person without delay.

Mohammad Ayub had filed a petition with the bench saying his son Mohammad Riaz went missing on June 1, 2011, from Takhtbhai area and later on June 27, 2012, his body was found in Haripur.

He said his son’s neck was broken, while his body had marks of severe torture and was riddled with bullet holes.

According to the petitioner, his son left home on a motorcycle to meet a local resident, Abbas, carrying Rs40,000, but never returned.

He said a former missing person, Qari Abdul Jabbar, informed him that Mohammad Riaz was kept with him by an intelligence agency at an underground facility.

Mr Ayub said Abdul Jabbar once visited the court along with him to testify in the case but later refused to do so after receiving threats from the agency. He requested the court to trace killers of his son.

Additional advocate general Obaid Razzaq appeared along with the SHO of Takhtbhai police station and said investigation into the matter was underway.

He produced the report of the initial investigation in which police claimed that Qari Jabbar had expressed ignorance about Mohammad Riaz’s whereabouts.

Also in the day, the bench adjourned until Nov 28 the hearing into around 50 habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of missing persons.

In one of these cases, the bench summoned deputy superintendent of police Shahnawaz Khan after the petitioner charged him with taking away his son on July 27, 2011.

The petitioner from Peshawar, Haji Fazal Khan, alleged that his son Fazal Amin had a dispute over money with a local resident on whose behest, a police team headed by the said DSP picked him up in Peshawar cantonment.

In another case, the bench gave the defence ministry the time until Nov 28 to trace a missing person.

Lal Mast had moved the court, saying his brother Ali Gohar was taken into custody by the administration of Mohmand Agency in Ekka Ghund area on Nov 10, 2011 and was handed over to Mohmand Rifles.

Standing counsel for the federal government Jamil Warsak said Mohmand Rifles had denied the detention of Ali Gohar. He said the defence ministry had sought time for tracing the man.

The bench provided him with time until Nov 28 for the same.

In other cases, too, the defence and interior ministries were given time to trace missing persons.