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Pak SC asks govt
to regularise ‘disappearances’
WSN Network
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has
given a concession to the government, allowing it to regularise the
‘disappearance’ of all the missing persons, but reiterated that the
Supreme Court had substantial evidence that the people were in the
custody of intelligence agencies.
“We are deliberately
exercising restraint due to the national interest and, therefore,
openly asking the government to regularise the custody of the
missing persons,” the CJ observed, adding that the court would not
be in a position to give the concession again.
At the last hearing,
the CJ had warned of summoning the heads of Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and other agencies if
the missing people were not released.
The chief justice is
heading a three-judge bench hearing pleas for recovery of the
missing people.
Attorney-General Malik Mohammad Qayyum sought a meeting with the
chief justice in his chamber to convey in private some sensitive
information regarding the missing people, saying that he could not
divulge it in the open court. The chief justice ignored the request.
The AG told the
court that 37 more people had been traced, taking the number of
traced people to 181 out of a total of 416 missing. The number of
untraced people is 235.
Among those traced,
20 are from Punjab, 44 from Sindh, 23 from the NWFP, 90 from
Balochistan and two from Islamabad.
Of the 235 untraced
people, 177 are from Balochistan, 31 from Punjab, 12 from Sindh, 13
from the NWFP and two from Islamabad.
The progress was
described by the court as unsatisfactory.
Defence Secretary
Kamran Rasool, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah and National
Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director-General Javed Iqbal Cheema
were present in the courtroom.
The AG told the
court that the government had been directed by the highest authority
in the country to give priority to the matter and cooperate in
finding the missing persons.
17
October, 2007
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