ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed interior ministry spokesman Brigadier (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema to submit complete particulars of victims of Lal Masjid operation who had been identified through DNA tests.

The bench, comprising Justice M Javed Buttar and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, is seized with suo motu proceedings in the Lal Masjid operation case. During the proceedings, the government and the former administration of Lal Masjid made divergent claims about the number of students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

Deputy Commissioner, Islamabad, Muhammad Ali submitted a concise statement before the court stating that according to the enrolment register of Jamia Hafsa there were 1,770 registered female students in Jamia Hafsa and among them 1,526 were boarders and the remaining were day scholars. However, Majida Umme Hassan claimed in her statement recorded by the lawyers’ legal aid committee that there were 3,600 regular female students in Jamia Hafsa. Maulana Abdul Aziz also gave the identical figure and claimed that there were 3,500 registered girl students and among them 3,000 were boarders.

According to the deputy commissioner’s statement 662 men and 470 women were arrested in the Lal Masjid operation out of which 604 men and 467 women had been released.

Standing counsel for the federation Shamshad Cheema said that 57 persons were in judicial custody and one person required by the police was is in a hospital.

The only evidence available for the determination of exact number of students and teachers is enrolment register retrieved from Jamia Hafsa, which comprises names of 1,770 female students and 158 female teachers. Out of 1,770 female students, 1,526 were boarders while remaining were day scholars, the statement said.

The statement said that 77 bodies of male students were recovered from the compound, and most of them did not belong to Lal Masjid or Jamia Hafsa but they were those people who had come in support of the Masjid administration.

“With regard to disposal of bodies, we have received the crosscheck of 20 bodies handed over to their parents,” the statement said.

“In villages a person can be identified in the dark and you are saying that a father cannot identify his son in daylight,” Justice M Javed Buttar remarked.

The statement further said that a meeting of legal aid committee with Umme Hassan to confirm the total number of the students studying in Jamia Hafsa was arranged, however, the committee refused to meet Maulana Abdul Aziz and his wife in the presence of the investigation officer. Hence, the legal aid committee was allowed to meet the detainees without the presence of investigation officer, the statement said.

The statement further said that in pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court, the sisters of Maulana Abdul Aziz were allowed to meet him in privacy.

The legal aid committee also filed a concise statement about the details of the meeting with Umme Hassan and Maulana Abdul Aziz.

The court will resume hearing on August 9.