ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah on Monday expressed apprehension over the alleged abduction of a scientist and his wife over three months ago and the failure of the intelligence agencies to locate his whereabouts, a local media outlet reported on Monday.

The scientist was reportedly working at a secret facility before abduction. Law enforcement agencies have been directed to provide a report over the matter. The court’s order came in response to a petition filed by Khubaib Hasan over the alleged abduction of his son Nozair Hassan and his spouse.

Nozair Hassan, who worked as a general manager at National Development Complex (NDC) was kidnapped along with is wife from their home in G-11/1 on January 12 in the presence of their children.

An ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) representative explained to the court on Monday that the agency was unaware of the couple’s location and did not hold them. This came after the ISI and Military Intelligence (MI) were directed by the court to submit a report on the couple’s absence on 11 April.

The petitioner’s counsel said that it was odd the ISI was unaware of the scientist’s location given that he was working for a sensitive organisation. It was further argued that defence laws require an inquiry within 24 hours and an action report to be filed if an employee goes missing. The defence ministry was asked about the actions it had taken over the issue.

The court then adjourned the case for two weeks and asked the agencies to submit a detailed report.

Regarding the alleged abduction incident, the petition said that armed men in black uniform, in addition to others in plain clothes trespassed into the couple’s residence for a search.

“After causing unexplainable harassment, chaos and confusion the armed men, surely believed to be men belonging to the agencies, took along both the detenues 1 and 2 while leaving behind their two kids screaming and crying for their parents,” said the petition.

None of the intruders was a woman and the scientist’s wife was manhandled by the armed men, it added. In addition, the First Information Report (FIR) was registered on 17 January after considerable delay.

The petitioner said that three months have passed since then and nothing has happened over the matter. He urged the court to help retrieve his family members.