ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Anwarul Haq on Wednesday submitted a reply in the Supreme Court Registrar’s Office on behalf of chiefs of intelligence agencies, who said they or the agencies they were heading could not be made respondents in constitutional petitions.
The heads of the intelligence agencies also said in the reply that the 11 prisoners who went missing from Adiala Jail were not in their custody, adding that petitions filed by legal heirs of the missing prisoners or other missing persons were not maintainable. The Supreme Court will resume hearing the case of the missing prisoners today (Thursday).
On November 12, a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had issued notices to the heads of intelligence agencies, seeking their explanation regarding the 11 missing prisoners of Adiala Jail, who were allegedly abducted by the intelligence agencies. The notices were issued to the heads of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau.
Attorney General Anwarul Haq had apprised the court that he had approached the authorities concerned, but they denied having any information about the whereabouts of the missing prisoners. He had told the court that some officials of these agencies wanted to meet the chief justice in his chamber to share some information on the issue.
However, the court had rejected the proposal and directed the AG to himself meet them and apprise the court of the information. The prisoners who went missing from the Adiala Jail after the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered their release included Dr Niaz Ahmed, Mazharul Haq, Shafiqur Rehman, Muhammad Aamir, Abdul Majid, Abdul Basit, Abdul Saboor, Shafique Ahmed, Said Arab, Gul Roz and Tehseenullah.
The prisoners were acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in April this year in four different cases, including firing rockets on the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, and on the plane of former president Pervez Musharraf, suicide attack on the bus of personnel of an intelligence agency in Rawalpindi and the suicide attack on the main entrance of military headquarters.
Even after the acquittal, these prisoners were detained in the jail by the Punjab Home Department. Later, the LHC set aside their detention orders, directing for their immediate release. However, the LHC ordered the registration of criminal cases against Adiala Jail Superintendent Saeedullah and Deputy Superintendent Khalid Bashir after the prisoners disappeared.
Missing prisoners not in agencies’ custody – Spy masters say they can’t be taken to court
