LAHORE, Nov 19: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday disposed of two petitions challenging the detention of orthopaedic surgeon Dr.Amir Aziz as “having borne fruit on being informed that he has been released”.

The drama of the mysterious disappearance of Dr.Amir Aziz came to an end after the agencies alleged to have abducted the noted surgeon quietly dropped him outside his residence in Lahore Cantonment during the sehri hours.

Dr.Amir was released some five hours before the hearing of his mother Zakia Aziz’s petition by Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, who had directed the interior ministry to cause his production positively.

Dr.Amir was apparently dropped outside his residence because those who picked him up did not want to produce him in the court where he could have been asked to make a statement about the circumstances leading to his being taken into custody on Oct 21 and the identity of those responsible for his abduction and detention for 30 days.

Deputy Attorney-General Dr.Danashwar Malik broke the news of Dr.Amir’s return by stating in the court that he had “returned” to his home “early this morning” and that the information in this regard had been “confirmed” by his family.

Confirming the news broken by DAG petitioner’s counsel Ehsan Wyne gave the credit of Dr.Amir’s release to the judiciary which had made the government realize that it would have to respect the basic human rights of the people.

He said the incident had restored the confidence of the people in the independence of judiciary. “Nobody will now dare to resort to any unlawful practice or keep anyone in wrongful confinement,” he added.

The learned judge disposed of the writ petition as having borne fruit in the light of the statement made by the petitioner’s counsel.

Dr.Amir’s brother Imran told reporters after the hearing of the case that he (Dr Amir) had returned to his house around the close of sehri and was taking rest. He said his brother had been set at liberty after being cleared of the allegations of having links with Al-Qaeda.

He said his brother had remained in the custody of the local agencies but had been exhaustively interrogated by foreign agencies. More than one teams interrogated him one after another for up to 19 hours continuously on certain days. A large number of people belonging to all walks of life and media were present at the court to witness the proceedings of the case. Dr.Amir’s brother Imran was present along with lawyers Ehsan Wyne, Manzoor Gilani and Iftikhar Shahid but his mother and petitioner in the case was not there.

The writ petition for the release and recovery of Dr.Amir was filed by his mother on Nov 7 along with a habeas corpus petition filed by Punjab PML-N secretary-general Khwaja Saad Rafiq. The court invited the comments of the federal government and the Punjab government on the two petitions for the next day and restrained the government from extraditing him to any other country.

The court directed the interior secretary to cause his production by Nov 15 on Nov 8 after the provincial government, the Federal Investigation Agency, the Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Interior denied having him in their custody but made no firm commitment in respect of the missing surgeon being in the custody of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The interior ministry failed to produce the missing doctor in the LHC on Nov 15 on the ground that “his whereabouts were still unknown”. Expressing dissatisfaction over the reply of Deputy Attorney-General Dr.Danishwar Malik, the learned judge had observed that the interior secretary must know about the detenu as all the agencies reported to him. He was of the view that interior minister Syed Moinuddin Haider was also aware of the whereabouts of the doctor who was arrested by a joint team of Pakistani security personnel and FBI officials on Oct 21 for his alleged links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The judge had disagreed with DAG’s contention that Inter-Services Intelligence was under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence and had ordered production of the detenue positively on Nov 19.

“We accept the court orders and are trying to comply but we do not know the whereabouts of the detenu. The interior ministry would have produced the detenu but it does not have him in its custody. The interior secretary is out of the country but the ISI had been contacted to ascertain whether it was detaining Dr.Amir. Its reply was, however, still awaited,” submitted the DAG while presenting a copy of the letter written by the interior ministry to the ISI.

He had sought adjournment of the case as the government required time to locate the arrested doctor, submitting that everything possible was being done for the purpose.

Petitioner Zakia Aziz’s counsel —- Ehsan Wyne, Manzoor Gilani and Iftikhar Shahid —- accused the government of using delaying tactics to prolong the proceedings of the case. They were of the view that Dr.Amir’s case was being treated like other political cases and proceedings were being dragged on under the pretext of waiting for the reply from the ISI.

They submitted that public concern about Dr.Amir’s safety was growing in view of reports that he was being interrogated by the American FBI as Mir Aimal Kasi, another Pakistani national, had been executed in the US.

They submitted that they had placed 16 annextures on record to prove that the surgeon was in the custody of the interior ministry. Statements of the interior minister, saying the detenu was in custody, were also on record.

They submitted that a law and order situation could develop in the event of inordinate delay in the recovery of Dr.Amir.

Justice Jilani had directed the interior secretary to produce the doctor in his court on Monday. “The court has full powers to enforce the rights of citizens under the Constitution,” the judge had observed during the hearing of the two petitions for the recovery and release of the doctor filed by his mother Zakia Aziz and Punjab PML-N secretary-general Khwaja Saad Rafiq.

Issuing the directive, the learned judge also restrained the government from extraditing the former chief executive of the Jinnah Hospital without the leave of the court.