Supreme Court of Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Defence authorities produced seven ‘missing’ persons, their faces covered in shawls, amid tight security before the Supreme Court on Saturday, while committing yet again that the remaining persons would be produced on Monday (Dec 9).
Out of the 35 missing prisoners of Malakand Jail, seven were produced before the court; two had allegedly died in custody.
On Friday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had submitted a breakdown of the 35 persons and their locations before the court. The seven produced on Saturday were listed under ‘category one’, which meant they had been released and were in Islamabad.
Others included three who were living in Waziristan, one who had moved to Saudi Arabia, eight who had reportedly moved to Afghanistan and living in Kunar, two who had died of natural causes and two who were in an internment centre; information regarding five was yet to be verified, while whereabouts of another group of seven were ‘not known’.
Those who appeared in the court were presented before the special one-member bench of Justice Amir Hani Muslim, said Attorney General Munir A Malik after the hearing. Saturday’s proceedings took place in camera on the request of army authorities.
The missing persons were presented one by one in the courtroom. Their verification took six hours. Relatives of the missing persons had been called for the hearing to help in the verification. They too were covered in shawls. The Superintendent of Malakand Jail attended the proceedings on the court’s order. He identified the seven persons from the jail record.
According to defence authorities, these persons had been set free from the jail and were never in custody of the army authorities. But the report submitted by jail officials revealed that army officials had taken these 35 persons from the jail in 2011.
Talking to the media after the hearing, Acting Defence Secretary Maj Gen (retd) Arif Nazir said, “Today, we obeyed the court’s order as much as we could and we will also obey the court’s order regarding the court appearance of the remaining 26 persons.” However, he refused to share details as to why the remaining could not be produced yet.
The defence secretary asked the media neither to take footage nor to release the names.
The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will resume the hearing of the case on Monday. The bench is expected to announce a judgment related to a similar case of the 11 Adiala Jail missing prisoners.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2013.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday identified six ‘missing persons’ who had relatives complaining about their ‘forced disappearance’ saying the country’s powerful army took them into custody from a detention centre.
What you say Mr.Defence minister? considere abovementioned reality affiliated with the facts.Missing people were in the custody of powerful army.
According to defence authorities, these persons had been set free from the jail and were never in custody of the army authorities. But the report submitted by jail officials revealed that army officials had taken these 35 persons from the jail in 2011.
There is admissible contradiction between the statement and the facts relating to thae case.In fact army had taken the persons who was produced on the date of hearing. No doubt, our honoureable apex court has played a historic role in this complicated matter I would like herein to solute and congratulation our judiciary and its judges specially the chief justice.
Any one, who commites violation law or constitution reliable to face trial.Trial must be open and chances must be provided to the persons involved.to defence Secret detention is not acceptable in the legal procedure .
They were apprehanded,they were jailed they disappeared from the eye of law,according to the media information several were died in thesecret prisoner cells, At last law approached and they were freed but serious question arising out in mind that the persons who died in custody whos is responsible for their untimely death???????????