ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government for details on the whereabouts of 40 missing people by Dec 1 and made it clear that no “excuses” would be accepted on the next date of hearing.

The apex court issued the warning when representatives of the government failed to provide a satisfactory explanation about indi-

viduals who have been missing for many months and whose families say they have reason to believe that they are held in captivity by intelligence agencies.

A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, has taken up the case on applications moved by the family members of 17 missing persons whose unexplained incarceration is believed to have been caused by their suspected links with the Al Qaeda or jihadi outfits.

The list submitted by one of the complainants, Amina Masood Janjua, wife of Masood Ahmad Janjua, also mentions names of a few officers who used to work with security departments of the government. The 17 missing people are: mechanical engineer Faisal Faraz, senior scientific officer Attiqur Rehman, software engineer Majid Khan, computer expert M. Mansoor, M. Altaf, M. Tariq, businessman Saifullah Piracha, MBA student Uzair Piracha, teacher Hafiz Basit, student Atif Idrees, Ali Sher, Imran Shamsher Khan, Umar Siddiqui, Mohammad Ramzan, Malik Zulfikar and Mohammad Zaheer Shah.

"No excuse will be acceptable on the next date of hearing," the chief justice said while setting the Dec 1 deadline, adding that the national crisis management cell dealing with the issue would be held responsible if the details were not furnished.

At the last hearing, Deputy Attorney-General Nasir Saeed Shaikh had told the apex court that the government had traced nine missing persons out of a total of 41 cases of disappearance. He had added that a comprehensive report had also been prepared by the interior ministry with the help of intelligence agencies and law-enforcing departments. Since the report was not signed by the interior secretary, the case was adjourned till Friday (Nov 10).

On Friday, the DAG mentioned the names of nine persons: Syed Mumtaz Hussain, Bilal Bugti, Murtaza Khan, Askari Raza, Syed Liaquat Hussain, Syed Nasir Mehdi, Umar Siddiq, Imran Shamsher Khan and Mohammad Zaheer Shah.

But the DAG provided the whereabouts of only two missing persons: Mohammad Zaheer Shah, who is in the Lahore jail, and Imran Shamsher Khan, who is in the Swat Jail. The DAG conceded it was not known under what charges they were detained.

In a five-page application, Ms Janjua asked for a directive to the country's security agencies for an early recovery of her husband who went missing mysteriously almost a year ago.

She also stated in the application that the apex court should order the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence and heads of the Military Intelligence and the army's Federal Investigation Unit to submit a report on the mysterious disappearance of her husband.

The application was filed before the Supreme Court after the Punjab Inspector-General failed to trace her husband.