ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Tuesday, sought a report from the committee of officers of the three agencies including the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Military Intelligence (MI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), regarding the matter related to the missing persons.
The committee tasked with investigating the cases of missing persons consists of Brigadier Shamsher, Brigadier Usman and Qazi Jamil ur Rehman and the two brigadiers are the members while Qazi, the joint director general of the IB is the convener.
These directions were issued by a larger bench of the IHC headed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir. The IHC chief justice has constituted the larger bench to conduct hearings of the cases related to missing persons.
During the hearing, Justice Kayani remarked that as it was the first hearing by the larger bench, a procedure would need to be established. He emphasised the need for specific directions based on the nature of each case, as the larger bench was constituted by the chief justice to address the missing persons’ cases.
Justice Kayani noted that the court had previously formed a committee comprising the directors-general of ISI, IB, and MI. However, upon the federal government’s request, the committee’s composition was to be changed.
At this, a representative from the Ministry of Defence informed the court that two brigadiers from the ISI and the MI have been nominated, while the IB representative stated that Joint Director General Qazi Jamil ur Rehman would serve as the convener of the committee.
Imaan Mazari, representing Baloch missing persons, informed that despite the undertaking of the Attorney General, Baloch students are still being forcibly disappeared and 14 more Baloch students have been forcibly disappeared.
At this, Justice Jahangiri remarked that if the highest law officer of the country gave an undertaking and yet people were being forcibly disappeared, what are the effects of the Attorney General’s statement.
Then, the bench called the registrar of the Enforced Missing Persons Commission to the rostrum and asked him to inform about the missing person, Feroze Ahmed. Justice Kayani said it has been two years and still they are unable to settle how the commission should look into this matter?
The Registrar of the commission said that Major-level officers represent the secret agencies in the Commission on Enforced Disappearances.
The bench said that a separate profile of each case should be made and it should be told who is appearing from the secret agencies.
The representative of the Ministry of Defense raised the question over jurisdiction of the IHC larger bench. He added that the cases of other provinces did not fall in the ambit of the IHC.
Justice Jahangiri said that the head offices of the Ministry of Defense and intelligence agencies are also in Islamabad. Justice Kayani said that he loves the respect of the agencies, but they should also think about their own respect.
The bench rejected the objection of the Defense Ministry and asked it to challenge the bench before the Supreme Court. The bench also expressed its annoyance over the Registrar of the Commission and sought the details of expenses of it.
The case was adjourned until September 26.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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