KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Lawyers representing Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi today urged the government to establish an independent task force to investigate the authorities’ failure to locate her ex-husband and her daughter.

The call follows Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri’s recent announcement by the Cabinet regarding the formation of one special committee and two task forces to investigate fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s death, Tommy Thomas’ allegations and the Pulau Batu Puteh case.

"It is noted with much regret that the case of Indira Gandhi and her daughter Prasana who was abducted is an ongoing saga with no end in sight. Indira’s daughter is yet to be found. It has been 12 years since mother and daughter were separated.

"In light of the above task forces, Indira urges the Prime Minister to set up an independent task force comprised of former judges to investigate the PDRM’s ineffectiveness in locating her ex-husband and the return of her daughter.

"It is beyond reason that the PDRM has made no progress in the last seven years since the Ipoh High Court Order in 2014,” lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal said in a joint statement.

PDRM is the Malay initials for the Royal Malaysia Police.

The lawyers highlighted a 2014 High Court mandamus order compelling the police to search for, retrieve and reunite P. Prasana Diksa with her mother who last saw her as an infant.

They further pointed out that the mandamus also compelled PDRM to enforce a committal order to arrest and commit Indira’s ex-husband, K. Pathmanathan who now known by the Muslim name Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, to prison, which is still pending to date.

Muhammad Riduan embraced Islam in 2009 and unilaterally converted all three of his children with Indira on April 2 that year without their mother’s knowledge. They had been raised as Hindus all along.

After a protracted court battle that spanned years, the Federal Court ruled in January 2018 that the unilateral conversions of the children were unlawful.

Indira then filed a lawsuit last year claiming RM100 million from the inspector-general of police over his agency’s continued failure to execute a court order to reunite her with Prasana.