The prisoners had allegedly been picked by intelligence agencies in 2010 from the Rawalpindi Adiala Jail. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ FILE
ISLAMABAD: The seven missing prisoners of the Adiala jail case were presented before the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday.
The seven men had allegedly been picked up from outside Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail in May 2010 after they were acquitted in all terrorism cases charged against them in Rawalpindi and Attock in 2007.
The seven missing prisoners were produced before the three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by the Peshawar jail authorities on the court's order.
They looked unharmed but complained of being deliberately kept in the dark about their trial proceedings and subsequent imprisonment.
The Supreme Court had earlier expressed its reservation about whether the prisoners were being given a fair trial by the political administration of Orakzai agency and had directed the relevant authorities to present them before the Court.
“The records mention March 22 2013 is as the date of arrest of these seven men but these men have been in kept in detention before that," stated Justice Jawwad S Khawaja.
The three-judge bench sought Attorney General of Pakistan's counsel to identify if the convicted men had been dealt in accordance with Article 10-A which states the right to a fair trial.
The APA of Orakzai Mawaz Khan was then directed to submit copies of the relevant trial records.
The bench also directed the Peshawar Jail authorities to allow the families of the detained men to meet them.
One of the detained prisoner said that the prisoners were never given the opportunity to defend themselves through a lawyer.
"We're not sure about our future," he said.
Earlier, a lawyer representing the intelligence agencies had denied knowing that any prisoners were picked up from Adiala Jail and claimed that they were arrested from FATA for carrying out armed attacks on the Pakistan Army.
The hearing was adjourned till May 22.
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@Naseer: Try spending 3 years without access to anything outside and than comeback to post your question once again.
Any negative comments about the courts are removed - what kind of free speech are we practicing here?
Why our courts are so quick to provide justice to suspected terrorists only?
"Missing Person" has a completely different meaning in Pakistan than in almost any place on Earth.