ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justice Ejaz Afzal on Monday said the apex court should be informed in writing regarding the allegations against the missing persons.
A two-member bench of the court took up the case for hearing on an application filed by the Defence of Human Rights Organisation chairperson Amina Janjua.
Justice Afzal remarked that “if anyone was accused of a crime, he/she should be punished according to the law” and added that innocent people held in captivity should be released.
Expressing annoyance over non-compliance of court orders, he said that “he had ordered a meeting to be arranged between a missing individual, Tasif Ali Malik, and his family, but the order had not been implemented.” He again directed the authorities to ensure that Malik meets his family within a week.
He also recalled that a report on missing persons was sought in the previous hearing of the case. On October 26, the SC had called for a detailed report on all the ‘missing’ persons held at all government facilities.
Regarding the information on the whereabouts of missing persons to their families, Justice Afzal said that according to Janjua the Commission on Missing Persons had not provided the families of missing individuals with their report.
Amina Janjua’s counsel Tariq Asad told the court that the security forces had tried to frame some people, picked up from Rajanpur, in the Sehwan blast case. However, one of them was saved from being framed by the Sindh IG AD Khawaja.
The government’s counsel, Sajid Ilyas Bhatti, said that the matters pertaining to the imprisonment camps came under the domain of the Home Department and the tribal areas, adding that he had not received any reports on the matter hitherto.
The court adjourned the hearing of the case for an indefinite period.