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ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued a notice to the Secretary of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home Department in a petition seeking the repatriation of two murder suspects from Saudi Arabia in connection with a Swat killing case, directing that the complete record be provided.
Hearing the matter, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ordered the relevant K-P authorities to furnish the record to the concerned bodies dealing with the suspects’ return from Saudi Arabia.
During proceedings, the judge made pointed remarks over the authorities’ failure to secure the suspects’ return over the past eight years. “Even in normal circumstances, the government has been unable to bring back an individual from Saudi Arabia through Interpol,” he observed, adding that the murder occurred in 2018 and both accused subsequently fled to Saudi Arabia, where they have since been declared proclaimed offenders.
A petition seeking their repatriation was filed in 2023. “If we cannot bring back two individuals from Saudi Arabia, what are we to do?” Justice Kayani remarked, questioning whether the suspects – identified as Umar Bacha and Hakim Khan — held any special status. “Are they politically connected or members of a royal family?” he asked.
The Assistant Attorney General informed the court that both men were daily wage workers.
Justice Kayani further observed: “What is the victim’s family to do? This reflects the helplessness of the Interior Ministry. What sort of sponsor would indefinitely secure residency for them there? It is precisely such circumstances that lead to rising crime, when people begin to take the law into their own hands.”
Officials from the Foreign Ministry told the court that the K-P government had yet to supply the relevant record.
