The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday sought replies from directors general Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence and other respondents in a case of three missing persons. He further directed the military judge (Adjutant General) to appear in court on the next hearing.
A single IHC bench of Justice Raiz Ahmed Khan heard a plea filed by the brother of the three men who went missing from Adiyala Jail, along with eight others, after their acquittal in terrorism cases last year.
Mufti Abdul Bais, the brother of three persons namely Syed Abdusaboor, Abdul Basit and Syed Abdul Majid moved a habeas corpus petition through his lawyer, Tariq Asad, , saying intelligence agencies were unlawfully detaining his brothers.
Bais stated in his petition that Lahore Police had “illegally” picked up his brothers in 2007 from the city’s Shafiqabad area. Shafiqabad police later handed them over to intelligence agencies. He added that it later it came to his notice that his missing brothers were in Adiyala Jail, after Rawalpindi Police registered three “fake” FIRs against them.
The petitioner maintained that his brothers were tried by the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (II) Special Judge. After conclusion of the trials, his brothers were acquitted in April 2010, but authorities kept them in prison under MPO 3.
However, on May 27, 2010 the LHC Rawalpindi Bench directed the authorities for their release while setting aside jail authorities’ detention order.
The petitioner told court that instead of obeying the LHC order, jail authorities handed all 11 men to intelligence agencies. And currently, these cases were being heard by a in Military court under the Army act.
Making the interior secretary, heads of intelligence agencies, and the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Adiyala Jail respondents, the petitioner asked the court to order the release of his brothers and shift the case trail to a civil court. After hearing arguments, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan sought replies from respondents and directed the adjutant general to appear in court on the next hearing., which would be held in September.
