January 27, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 07, 1428

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KARACHI, Jan 26: The Sindh High Court on Friday ordered to provide medical treatment to former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal and issued notices to the home department and the Central Prison superintendent for Feb 1 in his petition for normal judicial custody under the prescribed Prison Rules.

A petition moved by Sardar Mengal’s nephew through Azizullah Shaikh said he had been subjected to solitary confinement under surveillance by the Military Intelligence, which had deputed four personnel to keep a round-the-clock watch on him. The petitioner requested a through medical check-up at the Civil Hospital, application of Prison Rules and removal of the MI guards.

The petition said Sardar Mengal had been brought from Hub, Balochistan, to Karachi by police and MI personnel. He was shown to have been arrested in two army personnel’s hostage taking case, in which his four domestic servants had been convicted and he had been declared an absconder. He was produced in the anti-terrorism court handcuffed and blindfolded. The court remanded him in judicial custody, which effectively meant the MI custody because agency officials operated over and above the jail authority, the petition stated.

The petitioner said a bed lying in the cell was removed before Sardar Mengal was brought there. The detainee was made to sleep on the floor and he had only his coat to use as a blanket. He was given contaminated water to drink, causing him diarrhoea. The jail doctor gave him a clean bill of health after giving his finding that he had a history of angina-like pain and megrim, besides a malfunctioning liver and an unstable cholesterol level. The petitioner further said jail authorities were afraid of the MI and requested the court to order production of the detainee to ascertain the truth.