ISLAMABAD, July 25: The Supreme Court was moved on Wednesday to seek a stay order against the pulling down of the Jamia Hafsa building until a probe into the missing students was completed.

Filed by Advocate M. Tariq Asad on behalf of the petitioner, Dr Akmal Saleemi, also a senior lawyer, the petition requested the apex court to constitute a judicial commission comprising five to seven retired judges to probe the raid on the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa complex in which at least 102 people were killed.

Retired judges — Justice Shafiur Rehman and Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim — and some ulema should be included in the commission, the petition said.

The federal government through the interior secretary, district administration of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Wafaqul Madaris, the scrutiny committee of Jamia Hafsa students and a journalist have been made respondents in the petition.

The petition requested the court to obtain the entire record and attendance registers of Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia to ascertain the exact number of students and teachers killed or injured in the operation.

It alleged that a great number of people had been missing, leaving their parents or guardians worried about their whereabouts.

The petition pleaded that those students and teachers who had surrendered to the authorities should be released as they were innocent. It alleged that they had been maltreated, humiliated and tortured.

Likewise, the detained huffaz, if not found involved in heinous offences, should be released. Students who were getting religious education in the mosque should also be encouraged to continue their studies under the Wafaqul Madaris until the final adjudication in the matter, it said.

The petitioner argued that the operation by military forces was entirely unwarranted and, therefore, it should be declared unlawful and those responsible be dealt in accordance with the law.

Late Maulana Abdullah, the former imam of Lal Masjid, had in 1976 founded Jamia Fareedia for boys in sector E-7 and Jamia Hafsa for girls in sector G-6. Since then these institutions have been imparting religious education and rendering other educational services for the benefit of poor students who mainly hailed from the remote areas.

After the death of Maulana Abdullah, his sons -- Maulana Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi -- were appointed khateeb and naib khateeb, respectively, to take over the management of two seminaries.

The petition recalled that Advocate Tariq Asad had also pleaded to stay the military operation before a two-member Supreme Court bench that had taken up the matter on a suo motu, but the bench refused to act on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction under Article 245 of the Constitution.