Court sets eight-day deadline for recovery
The court is not interested in sending police officials to jail, remarks chief justice.
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Punjab chief secretary eight days to recover 11 men who were allegedly picked up by the country’s spy agencies after their acquittal by a court in a terrorism case.
The deadline was set by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing a suo motu case.
Justice Chaudhry remarked that the court was not interested in sending police officials to jail but it was concerned with the recovery of the 11 missing men.
Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Saeed Khosa informed the court that he has sought a report from Inspector-General Police Punjab Tahir Saleem Dogar about the 11 men who went missing from Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
“Within the next four days, I will be in a position to inform the court about the exact situation,” Khosa submitted and sought a four-day period from the court for investigations.
Khosa assured the court that the missing people would be recovered soon. He submitted a report of the Special Branch to the bench. And Justice Chaudhry, after reading the report, observed, “According to police officials the 11 men were released, whereas Additional Attorney-General KK Agha misinformed the court that they are not in the custody of the spy agencies.”
“This report is saying something else,” Justice Chaudhry further observed while warning the counsel to avoid making such irresponsible statements in the court.
“Why is an unlawful procedure adopted when the law is available?” Justice Ramday observed.
Later, the chief justice gave the Punjab chief secretary until November 10 to recover the missing men and submit a daily performance report in the court.
On Monday, the apex court had summoned Chief Secretary Khosa seeking information on the whereabouts of the 11 men.
The men were arrested in a number of terrorism cases, including the assassination attempt on the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. However, an anti-terrorism court acquitted them for want of evidence. The Adiala jail administration, instead of releasing them, had allegedly handed them over to the agencies.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2010.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Punjab chief secretary eight days to recover 11 men who were allegedly picked up by the country’s spy agencies after their acquittal by a court in a terrorism case.
The deadline was set by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing a suo motu case.
Justice Chaudhry remarked that the court was not interested in sending police officials to jail but it was concerned with the recovery of the 11 missing men.
Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Saeed Khosa informed the court that he has sought a report from Inspector-General Police Punjab Tahir Saleem Dogar about the 11 men who went missing from Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
“Within the next four days, I will be in a position to inform the court about the exact situation,” Khosa submitted and sought a four-day period from the court for investigations.
Khosa assured the court that the missing people would be recovered soon. He submitted a report of the Special Branch to the bench. And Justice Chaudhry, after reading the report, observed, “According to police officials the 11 men were released, whereas Additional Attorney-General KK Agha misinformed the court that they are not in the custody of the spy agencies.”
“This report is saying something else,” Justice Chaudhry further observed while warning the counsel to avoid making such irresponsible statements in the court.
“Why is an unlawful procedure adopted when the law is available?” Justice Ramday observed.
Later, the chief justice gave the Punjab chief secretary until November 10 to recover the missing men and submit a daily performance report in the court.
On Monday, the apex court had summoned Chief Secretary Khosa seeking information on the whereabouts of the 11 men.
The men were arrested in a number of terrorism cases, including the assassination attempt on the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. However, an anti-terrorism court acquitted them for want of evidence. The Adiala jail administration, instead of releasing them, had allegedly handed them over to the agencies.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2010.