Missing persons: SC warns of action against spy agencies

Intelligence agencies will be booked for abduction if they fail to produce the missing persons, judges say.

ISLAMABAD: As the Constitution guarantees the protection of citizens, if charges of abduction are proven against officials of spy agencies, they will be prosecuted under the law, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmad declared in the Supreme Court on Monday.

If there are terrorists among the missing persons, they should be produced before a court of law. No state institution or official has the right to make an arrest without fulfilling the legalities, remarked Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmad, while presiding over the division bench of the apex court.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq submitted the judicial commission’s report on the recovery of missing persons.

The intelligence agencies will be booked for abduction if they fail to produce the missing persons, warned the two-member bench comprising Justice Ahmad and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

Officials, who take oath under the Constitution, are bound to respect it and function within its parameters, the bench observed.

The court expressed its dissatisfaction with the report and directed the AG to meet ISI officials. If they can be convinced to comply with the court’s directive, half the cases will be resolved.

To uphold the Constitution, state institutions including secret agencies must abide by the law. Since the issue is of public interest, it should be taken up by parliament, the bench remarked.

It has directed the federal secretaries of defence and interior to attend the hearings of the missing persons’ case. The heirs of the missing persons requested the court to order the AG to provide them a copy of the Judicial Commission’s report.

Haq informed the court that as the report contains sensitive information it cannot be provided to the complainants, petitioners or heirs of the missing persons.

The AG was directed to share it with the bench and provide copies to the petitioners and heirs of the missing persons on the next hearing after excluding the sensitive information.

“The court will continue proceedings in the missing persons’ case till they have all been recovered,” declared Justice Ahmad. “Had the secret agencies acted in accordance with the law and the Constitution, the situation would have been different today.” Asma Jahangir, President Supreme Court Bar Association, apprised the court that four more people had gone missing on December 21. So far 174 out of the 235 have been traced. The court adjourned the case for a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th,  2011.