“The record of the internees is not being provided intentionally to the court. Everyone is giving replies in the court and denying the presence of missing persons but the court would know through the record of internment centres which law-enforcement agency is involved and has shifted the missing persons to the internment centres,” the PHC chief justice observed during the hearing of the missing persons cases.
The chief justice remarked that all those officials from the police, intelligence agencies and military, who are submitting replies of denial on affidavits in the court, would face action once it was proved that they were involved in the missing persons cases.
During the hearing of 25 missing persons cases, all the officials of the police, Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in most cases submitted replies on affidavits claiming ignorance about the whereabouts of the missing persons.
However, the bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain issued notices to military officers and directed Major Irfan to submit replies of military officers through the General Headquarters (GHQ) before the next hearing as there were specific allegations against them for taking away the missing persons.
The bench issued notices to Colonel Arshad and Major Dilawar of the 1st Baloch Regiment Unit of Pakistan Army and directed them to explain their position in replies through the GHQ before the next hearing as there were specific allegations against them for picking up Muhammad Khan, the husband of the petitioner Naik Seerata, a resident of Ouch area, Lower Dir district, on June 29, 2009.
The bench also issued notices to former councillor Muhammad Ali and two elders, Shahzeb and Muhammad Zeb, to appear in person at the next hearing as it was on their assurance that the missing person Muhammad Khan was handed over to the military officers.
In another case, the bench issued notices to Colonel Zafran, Major Mohsin and Subedar Ameer of the 10 Punjab Regiment of Pakistan Army and asked Major Irfan to ensure submission of their replies through the GHQ before the next hearing of the case.
The father of a missing person, Umar Gul, in his petition claimed that the army personnel picked up his son on June 12, 2013 from the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency and since then his whereabouts were not known. “I fought alongside the Pakistan Army in the 1965 War. But today our own army picked up my innocent son and my family doesn’t know if he is alive or dead,” the elderly man told the bench.
The chief justice told Major Irfan to notice the agonies of the person and inform the high-ups of the plight of the old parents of missing persons.
The bench also issued a notice to Captain Shah Faisal of 56 Baloch Regiment deployed in Hangu and directed him to submit his reply through the GHQ before the next hearing. Abdul Samad, the son of a missing person Qazi Rehman, had filed the petition and claimed that his father was picked up by an army officer at the Atiq Army check-post in Hangu district on January 31, 2014 and since then his whereabouts were not known.
The bench also issued a show-cause notice to secretary Home and Tribal Affairs, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to appear in person as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for non-compliance with the court’s orders in the missing persons cases.The bench in some cases sought replies from ministries of Interior and Defence and adjourned the cases to July 1, 2014.
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