The federal government produced 14 missing persons at Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday under tight security cover.
The so-called missing persons were produced before Justice Amir Hani Muslim, a member of the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry which had taken up a case relating to a missing man named Yasin Shah.
They were brought to the premises of the apex court in two vehicles with their faces covered. Attorney General Muneer A. Malik was also present in the court’s premises.
Media was not allowed to take video footage or pictures of these missing persons.
Acting Secretary Defence Arif Nazeer directed the media not to disclose the identity of the missing persons, urging that their names and videos should not be aired.
Responding a query regarding the missing persons kept in tribal areas, the Secretary Defence said: “If it was possible to bring missing persons from Kunar, we could bring in Maulvi Fazlullah (chief of banned TTP).”
Arif Nazeer said that all of the fourteen missing persons were located and brought today to court. He said all of them were living a free life, adding that their identities were kept confidential due to security reasons.
An in-camera hearing of Supreme Court was held where statements of missing persons were also recorded.
It should be mentioned here that in previous hearing, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif gave assurances to the court that some of the missing persons will be produced today.
Appearing before the three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S.Khawaja and Justice Amir Hani Muslim, the defence submitted a detailed report about 35 undeclared detainees, claiming that none of them is in army’s detention.
He said that seven of them were living as free citizens and could be produced anywhere on court orders. He stated that two of the 35 persons are kept in a detention center, one has gone to Saudi Arab, three others are in South Waziristan, eight in Afghanistan, and seven others could not be located.
Khawaja Asif asserted investigation regarding other five persons is underway and hopefully they will soon be located.
Brushing aside the defence minister’s assertions, the chief justice observed, “All these are speculations which cannot be accepted.” He questioned as to how the detainees were found at scattered places.