Masood Rehman
ISLAMABAD
A three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench will hear today a case pertaining to the alleged abduction of 11 prisoners – involved in heinous crimes – from Adiala jail by intelligence agencies.
The bench comprises Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.
Their version:
Punjab home secretary, Punjab inspector general of prisons and the Rawalpindi district coordination officer would appear in court on notice to explain as to why they illegally detained certain accused people and then acquitted them or handed them over to the intelligence agencies. The attorney general of Pakistan would also appear on notice to assist the court.
At the last hearing, the court had directed Rawalpindi City Police Officer Fakhar Sultan to file the service record of Adiala Jail Superintendent Saeedullah Gondal after the counsel for the petitioners (abductees) told the court that the Adiala jail superintendent handed over 11 prisoners to intelligence agencies and they had been in police custody for the last three years.
The prisoners who were allegedly abducted by the intelligence agencies after the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered their release were Dr Niaz Ahmed, Mazharul Haq, Shafiqur Rehman, Muhammad Aamir, Abdul Majid, Abdul Basit, Abdul Saboor, Shafique Ahmed, Said Arab, Gulroze and Tehseenullah.
These prisoners were acquittal by an anti-terrorism court in April in four different cases including firing rockets at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, firing a rocket at the plane of former president Pervez Musharraf, involvement in a suicide attack on the bus carrying intelligence agency personnel in Rawalpindi and the suicide attack at the main entrance of General Headquarters (GHQ).
Even after the acquittal, these prisoners were detained in jail by the Punjab Home Department. Later, the LHC set aside their detention orders asking for their immediate release. But instead of being set free, they were allegedly abducted by the intelligence agencies. After their alleged abduction, the LHC ordered the registration of a criminal case against the jail chief.
