Adiala Jail officials granted bail

SP, DSP were arrested on October 26 on kidnapping charges.

RAWALPINDI: Additional District and Session Judge Rawalpindi on Friday granted bail to Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of Adiala Jail in the case of 11 missing persons who had disappeared soon after getting released from jail.

Judge Chaudhry Ameer Muhammad Khan while granting bail to the police officials against surety bonds of Rs100,000 each observed that the two police officials were not found responsible for the disappearance of the 11 missing men.

Earlier, the families had moved the court against the disappearance of these men alleging they were abducted by the intelligence agencies.

Superintendent Adiala jail Saeedullah Gondal and Deputy Superintendant Khalid Bashir will be released on Saturday as the surety bonds could not be submitted on Friday.

The court in its order declared that according to the police record, Superintendent Jail was absent on the day the 11 men disappeared. According to the jail rules, the Deputy Superintendent Adiala had no role in the release of prisoners, the judge observed.

Furthermore, the two officials had no jurisdiction outside the jail premises from where the men were allegedly abducted. Therefore, the jail chief and his deputy were not responsible for the disappearance of the 11 men.

The two police officials were arrested from outside the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the orders of the Chief Justice on October 26 this year, who had taken a suo motto notice of the 11 persons’ going missing from outside the jail after they were released in a terrorism case.

The 11 missing persons include Dr Niaz Ahmed, Mazharul Haq, Shafiqur Rehman, Mohammad Aamir, Syed Abdul Majid, Abdul Basit, Syed Abdul Saboor, Shafique Ahmed, Saeed Arab, Gul Roze and Tehseenullah and went missing from Adiala jail on May 28 this year after they were released.

The men were acquitted in four terrorism cases by a trial court, including charges under the Explosive Substance Act in April this year. They were arrested for rocket attack on Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, firing anti- aircraft missile on a plane carrying former president Pervez Musharraf, and carrying out suicide attacks on the bus of an intelligence agency in Rawalpindi and at the main entrance of General Headquarters.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2010.