PESHAWAR, Aug 16: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan on Tuesday warned the law enforcement agencies that action would be taken against the concerned officials if any missing person was recovered from their custody after they had expressed ignorance regarding his whereabouts.

The chief justice was hearing several habeas corpus cases while heading a two-member bench.

The chief justice observed that on the one hand, the law enforcement agencies had not been playing their due role while on the other, the relatives were not coming up with concrete evidence regarding the whereabouts of the missing persons.

The bench disposed of one of the habeas corpus petitions after it was informed that Liaqat Afridi, who was a driver in the Frontier Constabulary, had been recovered.

The petitioner, Noor Bibi, a resident of Sherkara village in Mathani area, had sent an application to the chief justice regarding the disappearance of her son since the killing of then FC commandant, Safwat Ghayur, in a suicide bombing last year. The said application was converted into a petition by the chief justice.

The petitioner informed the bench that her son had returned home. She stated that he was ill and was undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

In another habeas corpus petition filed by a female against the alleged illegal detention of her husband and brother, the local police of Tank district produced two of their neighbours on the directives of the court.

The petitioner, Amna Lateef, had during last hearing informed the court that the said two persons, Imam Buksh and Saifur Rehamn, had asked her to pay them money and they would recover the two men, who were in custody of an intelligence agency.

The two persons denied her statement and stated on oath that they had never put forward any such offer to the petitioner. The court directed the police to set them free but to continue their investigation and in case they were found involved in it action should be taken against them.

Meanwhile, in another petition regarding disappearance of a man of Karimpura area in Peshawar, the concerned inspector of Crimes Investigation Department (CID), Mazhar Khan, did not turn up following which the court again summoned him.

The petition is filed by Sarfaraz Khan, a close relative of the disappeared man, Mir Mohammad Arshid. He alleged that Arshid was taken away by officials of CID on Jan 9, 2009, and later the said inspector received Rs250,000 from them for his release. However, he added, Arshid did not return home.

Similarly, in the petitions pertaining to disappearance of Ikramullah from Defence Colony; Maulvi Mir Abbas from Dara Adamkhel and Fayaz from a hospital in Dara Adamkhel, the bench allowed more time to the standing counsel of the federal government, Jamil Warsak, to contact the ministries of interior and defence to trace them out.