QUETTA, April 5: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court has issued notices to the federal and provincial governments on an affidavit filed by two plaintiffs on a constitutional petition of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan saying that they had been subjected to torture in custody.

The plaintiffs stated that they worked in the Hub town residence of Sardar Akhtar Mengal, former chief minister and leader of the BNP-Mengal and were arrested by law-enforcement personnel in the last week of November 2006.

Ghulam Haider and Abdul Khaliq submitted that the law-enforcement personnel had tortured them during detention and when they were freed on February 24 from the Clifton police station they were asked not to say anything in court about their ordeal.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani ordered on Thursday that notices be issued to the federal and provincial governments and the district police officer of Lasbela.

It may be recalled that Mohammad Bashir of the Balochistan Chapter of the HRCP had filed a petition about 14 missing people, including the two plaintiffs and the advocate general, Balochistan, had informed the court during a hearing on March 5 that 10 people had been released.