ISLAMABAD:
The Military Intelligence (MI) Director-General (DG) has been asked to appear before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 10 to testify in a missing persons’ case.
Chief Justice of IHC Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman Thursday directed the DG to appear in person before the court on August 10 and produce four missing Hizbut Tahreer (HT) activists.
The relatives of missing persons, who are also activists of the banned outfit, had filed writ petitions before the court in July. They had stated that the missing persons had been picked up by spy agencies from different parts of the country.
The petitioners maintained that the security agencies had picked them up “without any reason”.
The missing activists include Osama Hanif, a telecom engineer and graduate of the National University of Science and Technology, who went missing from sector G-11 on July 12.
Imran Yousafzai, deputy spokesman of HT, Hayyan Dawar, and Dr Abdul Qayyum, a dentist, had gone missing on July14, 21 and 27 respectively.
Earlier on July 26, the court had issued notices to MI DG, ISI and Superintendent of Police to submit their replies by July 29. However, the deputy attorney general (DAG) told the court that notices were not served to the relevant officials in a timely manner.
“It is the responsibility of the petitioner to ensure that the respondents get the notices on time,” he said. The matter was deferred till August 4.
On Thursday, DAG Tariq Mahmood Jhangri told the court that the missing persons were not in the custody of MI. He said that the police had started the investigations on the case. “ISI is seeking further time to submit their reply,” he said. The defence counsel argued that the missing persons were in the custody of the security agencies and they have detained them illegally without any reason.
He argued that his clients were never involved in any terror activities and their abduction was against the law.
Meanwhile, another petition was filed against the disappearance of Abdul Majid, who had gone missing on July 30 from Saddar in Lahore. The court has clubbed his case with that of the four activists of HT who had gone missing.
After the detention of Brigadier Ali Khan by the Pakistan Army for his alleged links with the HT, more than a dozen young activists of the organisation went missing from different areas of the country, according to HT sources.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2011.
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