SC hands over missing persons to Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Supreme Court on Monday handed over the missing persons to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), seeking written explanations from the Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence chiefs, Chief Secretary and Judge Advocate General (JAG) over the non-compliance of court’s earlier ruling.

A three member bench of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed the hearing of Adiala Jail missing prisoners’ case. The seven prisoners who were sought by the court earlier were presented before the apex court by the secret services.

The court ordered the detainees were handed over to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, permitting their families to meet them.

The bench asked Chief Secretary KPK to submit a comprehensive report including the details of the detention within four days to the Registrar Office of the Supreme Court, while JAG, MI and ISI are told to submit their reports by March 1.

The KPK chief secretary replied saying that he did not have knowledge regarding the whereabouts of the prisoners.

The Chief Justice criticized his statement saying, “A provincial chief secretary should be aware of everything that happens in the province. You should know where the Taliban are stationed and where an operation is carried out against them. You should have knowledge about the province”.

The CJ also stated that the detention of missing persons in Frontier Corps camp was in violation of law. He also expressed anger on agencies counsel for not producing all the prisoners.

In the meantime, Advocate Tariq Asad, the counsel of missing persons informed the court that during the imprisonment, which lasted for more than a year, the prisoners were not exposed to the sunlight which worsened their health.

He further told the court that three out of the seven prisoners are suffering from kidney failure, while the rest diagnosed with other inveterate diseases.

The bench also served notices to heads of the secret services to explain the circumstances behind the deaths of the missing persons by January 25.

It also directed the KPK governor to submit a report through the provincial chief secretary on the condition of the prisoners who are hospitalised in Peshawar and Parachinar.

The civilians had been facing a court martial under the Army Act on charges of attacking the General Headquarters (GHQ) and ISI’s Hamza Camp base.

They were picked up from Adiala Jail by intelligence agencies after they had been acquitted of the charges by the court.

Four of the 11 detainees – Muhammad Amir, Tahseenullah, Said Arab and Abdul Saboor – died in the custody of the ISI and MI. The hearing was adjourned for.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 13 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.