Court intervention: Fourth missing person returns home this week
Brother says ‘officials’ picked up Hassan from Lahore’s Cantt Station.
Brother says ‘officials’ picked up Hassan from Lahore’s Cantt Station. DESIGN: SIDRAH MOIZ KHAN
ISLAMABAD:
Yet another person has been recovered from the clutches of intelligence agencies following the Supreme Court’s intervention – the fourth such recovery this week.
According to a report issued by the apex court’s Human Rights Cell, Noor Hassan, who allegedly went missing from Lahore’s Cantt Railway Station, returned home after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took notice of an application filed by his brother and Karachi resident Muhammad Yousaf.
In his application, Yousaf stated that armed persons claiming to be government officials accused his brother Noor Hassan and two others of being terrorists, and subsequently arrested them from Cantt Station. He said that his brother had spent 40 days preaching Islam in Lahore and was due to return to Karachi the day he went missing. Maintaining his brother’s innocence, the applicant appealed for Hassan’s release.
Taking cognisance of the application, the chief justice sought a report from the defence and interior ministries, and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) on the matter. Complying with the directions, the director (legal) of the defence ministry informed the court that the Inter Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence had been asked to provide the requisite information. The ministry, however, sought eight weeks for submitting a report on the matter.
After receiving the defence ministry’s reply, Justice Chaudhry gave the defence secretary two weeks to provide the information sought.
In the meantime, the CIED registrar also submitted a report stating that Mohammad Yousaf had confirmed that his brother had returned home.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2013.
Yet another person has been recovered from the clutches of intelligence agencies following the Supreme Court’s intervention – the fourth such recovery this week.
According to a report issued by the apex court’s Human Rights Cell, Noor Hassan, who allegedly went missing from Lahore’s Cantt Railway Station, returned home after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took notice of an application filed by his brother and Karachi resident Muhammad Yousaf.
In his application, Yousaf stated that armed persons claiming to be government officials accused his brother Noor Hassan and two others of being terrorists, and subsequently arrested them from Cantt Station. He said that his brother had spent 40 days preaching Islam in Lahore and was due to return to Karachi the day he went missing. Maintaining his brother’s innocence, the applicant appealed for Hassan’s release.
Taking cognisance of the application, the chief justice sought a report from the defence and interior ministries, and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) on the matter. Complying with the directions, the director (legal) of the defence ministry informed the court that the Inter Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence had been asked to provide the requisite information. The ministry, however, sought eight weeks for submitting a report on the matter.
After receiving the defence ministry’s reply, Justice Chaudhry gave the defence secretary two weeks to provide the information sought.
In the meantime, the CIED registrar also submitted a report stating that Mohammad Yousaf had confirmed that his brother had returned home.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2013.