ISLAMABAD, July 18: The Supreme Court was told on Wednesday that five more missing persons had been traced of which four had reached homes after release leaving the list of recovered persons to 118 out of 285.
Deputy Attorney-General Tariq Khokhar told a two-member bench that Zafar Yasin, Naeem Noor Khan, Luqman and Abid Raza reached homes after they were released but the fifth Aleem Nasir, stated to be a German-born Pakistani, was in the custody of a political agent in DI Khan.
The bench comprising Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Falak Sher was hearing the petitions of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), former PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar for the recovery of missing persons and the complaints of Ms Amina Masood Janjua, Aisha, Abdul Ghaffar, Amtul Hafiz, Fatima, Mohammad Ikram Alvi, Arif Abbasi and Syed Babar and many more.
A brother-in-law of Mr Luqman contradicted the claim that the missing person had reached home. The court directed the DAG to check the information.
HRCP Chairperson Asma Jahangir told the court that out of 173 missing persons, only 78 people had been traced while 95 were untraceable. The bench expressed concern over the pace of recovery.
The court entertained a complaint of Khalid Khawaja’s wife regarding her husband’s arrest during the Lal Masjid standoff. She claimed that her husband was picked up by police from his residence in the night when the operation was being conducted, without any warrant. The bench asked Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali to explain his position, who replied that there was a case registered against him, the details of which he would submit later. The bench directed him to submit the report within a week.
The bench took notice of the arrest of Hafiz Abdul Basit on the alleged charges of his involvement in the Musharraf attack case and directed authorities to release him immediately as he was not in the list of those convicted.
Father of Qari Obaidullah told the bench that he met his son at the CMH Rawalpindi who was in a miserable condition. His weight had reduced to 42 kilograms from 72. The bench summoned the medical record of Mr Obaidullah.
About Attiqur Rehman, the DAG said he was not with any intelligence agency. About Atif Javed, the SP Faislabad appeared in the court and said an FIR of his disappearance had been lodged on August 4, 2005. The court directed him to produce the complete record of Mr Javed’s case.
The bench directed authorities to give separate progress report on each missing person within 10 days.
The bench adjourned the next hearing till August 6.