July 31, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 15, 1428

QUETTA, July 30: Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd has said the Supreme Court must take notice of missing people, particularly those belonging to Balochistan, as hundreds of political workers have been arrested by intelligence agencies in violation of the law.

He was talking to a group of lawyers and other people gathering around him during a visit on Monday to a hunger strike camp set up by six Baloch girls outside the Quetta Press Club.

The girls were on a hunger strike on the call of the Baloch Women Panel (BWP).

Mr Kurd condemned some steps of the government and said that excesses of intelligence agencies had forced the Baloch women to come out of their homes to protest against the ‘forced disappearance’ of people.

Zalakhwa Baloch, Meer Baloch, Nazeen Baloch, Khan Bibi, Mai Bibi and Shakar Bibi advocate observed the hunger strike on Monday to draw the attention of the people to the plight of the missing persons belonging to Balochistan.

The Baloch Women Panel has announced that it will continue its protest until Aug 14.

Mr Kurd said though the Supreme Court had taken notice of 155 missing persons belonging to Punjab and Sindh, it was yet to take notice of hundreds of people who had gone missing in Balochistan during the last four years.

The PBC vice-chairman said the successful movement of lawyers had made the judiciary independent and in the changed environment, the Supreme Court should not allow members of intelligence agencies to arrest innocent citizens without fulfilling legal procedures.

He said under the law, police or any security agency could not keep any person in custody beyond 24 hours and after that the detainee must be produced before a court of law. He claimed that some of the detainees in Balochistan had been behind the bar for past four years.

Mr Kurd said that the issue of missing persons was very sensitive and the Supreme Court must take notice of it to provide justice to all affected people.

Speaking on this occasion, Sadiq Raisani, Organiser of the Baloch Bar Association, said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai should take notice of the illegal acts of Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for arresting the Baloch youths in an unlawful manner.