ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: Attorney-General Malik Mohammad Qayyum on Friday told the Supreme Court that he would soon meet President Gen Pervez Musharraf to ensure release of all missing people picked up without any charge. He sought two weeks for the purpose.
Mr Qayyum said he needed more time because of his hectic schedule due to hearings in the Supreme Court of petitions against the holding of dual offices by the president and matters relating to the presidential election. The court fixed Oct 4 as the next hearing date.
A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, hearing a petition of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and 48 other applications seeking recovery of the disappeared, was also informed that 13 more missing people had been traced. Six of them belong to Sindh, five to Balochistan and two to Punjab.
Deputy Attorney-General Naheeda Mehboob Elahi presented a report in the court suggesting that of the 416 missing people, 145 had been traced and efforts were being made to find the others.
The chief justice said the court would be satisfied when all the missing were traced and directed the authorities to expedite efforts for their early recovery. The case, he added, was of paramount importance because it involved human rights.
At the last hearing on Sept 4, the court had ordered the government in clear terms to ensure the release of all missing people because incriminating evidence was available to establish that those who had disappeared were in the custody of intelligence agencies.
The bench declined a request of Mujeeb Pirzada, the counsel for Imran Munir facing charges of spying and presently under treatment in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, to hear the case in chamber because his client faced a serious threat to his life. The court, however, directed the authorities to provide all medical facilities to Mr Munir in the hospital.
Hafiz Tahir, who had been released earlier, told the court that he was receiving threats from police not to make any statement in the court about his disappearance. The court ordered that he be provided with protection.
The court directed the government to prepare a report on Abid, Ali, Bashir, Hafiz Idrees, Hamid, Bilal, Zahir Shah, Dr Shah and Attiqur Rehman, who had been missing for years.
