Missing persons case: Produce detainee or face jail, SC tells FIA chief

* Court shouldn’t be forced to summon heads of armed forces: chief justice

By Mohammad Kamran

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday warned Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) Director General Tariq Pervaiz that he would be thrown in jail if he failed to produce a missing person, Hafiz Abdul Basit, before the court on Monday (today).

The court also ordered production of five other persons detained by the intelligence agencies.

A four-member larger bench gave these directives while conducting daylong hearing of 43 separate cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances including a constitutional petition of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that the court would later rule on the general practice of arbitrary and illegal detention of citizens by intelligence agencies.

“At present we are concerned with instant relief to the complainant and at a later stage a larger bench will deliberate on the role of agencies and pass a detailed judgment with regard to arbitrary and illegal arrests of persons,” Justice Chaudhry said. The chief justice said that officials on court notice had acknowledged the involvement of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), among other agencies, in the detentions and this provided a basis for writing a judgment in this significant case.

The court twice gave the FIA DG time to produce Hafiz Abdul Basit, who was accused of involvement in an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf. The man was picked up by the FIA and DSP Tariq Mehmood and ASI Iftikhar later handed him over to an intelligence agency.

“It has been proved that you lifted the person and now you are responsible for the production of the detainee before this bench. Either produce the detainee or get ready to go to the dungeon,” the chief justice said. The FIA DG twice left the court in compliance with court orders but each time he returned without any outcome. The bench was about to send him to jail when Attorney General (AG) Malik Qayyum came to his rescue and sought an adjournment for two days.

The bench gave the FIA DG a final chance and adjourned the proceedings till Tuesday.

The bench also ordered the production of Imran Munir, Alim Nasir, Jan Muhammad, Munir Mengal and Salim Baloch today.

Imran Munir, who is in jail after a court-martial, was especially driven from Mangla to Islamabad for the hearing. However, he could not reach the court by 5:30 pm. The bench ordered that he be kept at Adiala Jail and produced on Monday (today). The attorney general said that Munir had been sentenced to eight years in jail by a Field General Court Martial on spying charges, but his conviction was set aside and a retrial ordered. He said Munir would also be given the right to engage a counsel during the proceedings.

Asma Jehangir, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that Munir, a dentist, was married to an Indian woman in Malaysia but he also had matrimonial relations with the niece of a Brigadier Mansoor.

“This is a case of illegal detention,” she said.

“If we start reviewing the case, then there will be embarrassment for many,” the chief justice remarked.

Zulfiqar Maluka advocate told the bench that his client Alim Nasir was a German national. He was carrying 24 kg of gemstones when he was arrested from Lahore Airport on June 18, 2007.

Maluka claimed that Nasir was in ISI custody because the agency was contacted when his mother had sought a meeting with her son. On a query of the court, National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director Colonel Javed Iqbal Lodhi admitted that he had contacted Col Zakaria of the ISI to facilitate the meeting. The bench directed Col Lodhi to produce Nasir in court. However, after the interval Col Lodhi came back and told the bench that Col Zakaria’s cell phone was off.

“If it is so then we could summon the ISI chief to inquire about the detainee. We can order registration of a case against him,” observed the chief justice, and remarked that this statement of the colonel was an admission of ISI’s involvement and it would be incorporated in the detailed judgment.

Former deputy attorney general Tariq Mehmood Khokhar also claimed that a man named Abid Raza was arrested twice and released by the ISI. About Masood Janjua, Deputy Attorney General Naheeda Mehoob Elahi told the court that he could not be traced. However, the missing man’s wife Amna Janjua said that she had filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court which stated that a senior military officer had informed her father-in-law that Janjua was alive and in army custody.

She said Munir also gave a statement that while in custody he had met with Masood Janjua. The court ordered the production of Munir to record his statement.

The CJP also observed that lower officials would not be made scapegoats and only senior officials and responsible persons would be taken to task for their misdeeds.

Ms Jahangir said that she had presented a list of 173 persons and among them 95 were still missing.

Online adds: After Nasir was not produced in court, the chief justice remarked that the court should not be compelled to summon the heads of the armed forces.

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