ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court came down hard on the counsel of the chiefs of ISI and MI on Monday and ordered immediate production of suspects picked up by intelligence agencies for their alleged involvement in the October 2009 attacks on the GHQ and ISI’s Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi.
The counsel representing directors general of the Inter Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence had earlier assured the court that the 11 prisoners, who mysteriously went missing from outside the Rawalpindi’s Adyala Jail the day they were acquitted of terrorism charges, would be tried under the Army Act of 1952.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry stated pointedly that four of the prisoners were later found dead in mysterious circumstances outside the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar while the whereabouts of others were still not known.
On Jan 6, the court had disposed of a joint petition on the assurance that the prisoners would face the Field General Court Martial under the Army Act, 1952. The whereabouts of the prisoners were revealed when the two spy agencies conceded before the court that they were in their custody claiming that the 11 men had been recovered from terror camps.
The prisoners were wanted for different acts of terrorism, including a rocket attack on the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, anti-aircraft shots fired at a plane carrying former president Pervez Musharraf, suicide attacks on the bus of an intelligence agency in Rawalpindi, attack on the GHQ, bomb attack on the Rawalpindi Parade Lane mosque and attacks on different military installations, besides killing a number of senior army personnel.
Outside the court, the counsel faced harsh questions from newsmen and was jeered by family members of the missing prisoners.
When the court took up a petition of Ruhaifa, mother of three civilians picked up by the agencies (one of her sons was later found dead), Advocate Raja Mohammad Irshad, representing ISI and MI chiefs and Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch sought time to submit a reply, stating that he had been engaged only a few days ago.
Of the 11 prisoners, four were in the Lady Reading Hospital, three in an internment centre, Parachinar, established under In Aid of Civil Power Regulation, 2011, the counsel said and claimed that they were not in ISI’s custody, but of the provincial government. Other four have died.
When Justice Khilji Arif Hussain asked under what law the prisoners were killed and left by a roadside, the counsel said these were wild allegations.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry repeatedly asked the counsel to produce rest of the prisoners before the court because the government had given their custody to the agencies.
“The Supreme Court is directing you to produce them because apparently there is a breach of Article 9 of the Constitution (security of person) as no-one is above the Constitution,” the chief justice observed. Lift them through a helicopter whatsoever and produce them before the court on Tuesday, he said.
However, the counsel suggested that the court might appoint someone to go and meet them in the hospital.
“Country’s prime minister has come to this court and you are saying they cannot be produced,” the chief justice said.
“The prime minister has not done a favour and appeared because he was an accused,” the counsel replied tersely.
“Give us in writing and we will see who is opposing the production of these prisoners,” the chief justice observed again.
At this the counsel assured the court that the prisoners would be produced in whichever manner they were in.
The court, however, ordered the counsel to file a reply, explaining the circumstances under which four prisoners had been killed and respond to the allegation against the respondents (intelligence agencies) and produce the seven prisoners before the court on Feb 9.
The court ordered the counsel to arrange, if possible, a meeting of relatives of the prisoners who were in hospital.
The court also issued a notice to Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq.
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