SC in-camera session: Five missing men appear before court

Three-judge bench will take up the case of 35 missing persons today.

ISLAMABAD:

Five people, who were catalogued as missing, were brought before the Supreme Court during Tuesday’s in-camera session, in compliance with the court’s order on February 27. Two more missing persons, detained at an internment centre, could not be presented before Judge Ejaz Afzal Khan in his chamber due to security reasons.

Additional Attorney General Shah Khawar, K-P Advocate General Latif Yousufzai and Superintendent In-charge Internment Centre Malakand Attaullah Khan were present during the proceedings. The five men present during the session were identified as Naeemur Rehman, Zahidullah, Muhammad Hasham, Ijaz Muhammad and Muhammad Saleh and their statements were recorded.

Yousufzai said the court has accepted a request to allow some time to present the two remaining missing persons in court and a meeting has been convened between one of the missing people and his family.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, will take up the case of 35 missing persons today. At the previous hearing, Yousufzai submitted an inquiry committee’s report, saying these missing persons were handed over to the army authorities by Superintendent In-charge Interment Centre Malakand Attaullah Khan on December 4, 2012. According to the report, seven persons are alive and have appeared before the court on December 7, 2013.

“Two persons have been detained in the internment centre and two persons have died a natural death in the centre,” the report said. “One person has been sent abroad and 11 missing persons have been reported to be in the Afghanistan border area of Pakistan.” The report adds that more than 400 Pakistani nationals are confined in Afghan prisons and a large number of militants and their associates are living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan Kunar province.  “The provincial government has taken up the case with the interior ministry,” the report said, adding that the Afghan government needed to be queried regarding the presence of eight missing people in Afghanistan.

“The cases of all missing persons may be referred to the commission formed on enforced disappearance so that efforts may be concentrated at one forum to bring a positive outcome in the interest of the state,” the report suggested.

The report further submitted that during the military operation in the country’s northern region, a large number of people were apprehended or taken into custody and, following detailed interrogation, militants and their associates were detained while others were released by the authorities. “The number of army units who took part in the operation had been relieved or rotated on a required basis and therefore, no formal record could be found regarding the apprehension or release of these people,” the report found.

The report also stated that 42 places in the country have been declared ‘internment centres’, of which five centres are functioning in K-P. Additionally, it was surmised that one of the missing people, Yasin Shah, may have been ‘apprehended during operations and released later’.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2014.