The government on Saturday produced 14 missing persons in the Supreme Court.
They 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.
According to TV channels reports, the missing persons were brought to the premises of the court in two vehicles with their faces covered.
Attorney General Muneer A Malik was also present on the court’s premises.
An in-camera hearing was held inside the chambers of Justice Amir Hani, who had also summoned Ataullah, the superintendent of the internment centre in Malakand, with all records pertaining to the detentions.
The court had also ordered that relatives of two of the internees – Sardar Ali and Nadir Khan – who had died on December 29 last year and July 1 this year, respectively, in the Lakki Marwat internment centre inside the Malakand garrison – be produced before Justice Muslim to confirm if they had agreed to receive the bodies without autopsy.
Additional defence secretary was reluctant to disclose the exact number of persons presented before the bench and said that many have been presented today.
The defence ministry sought the court’s permission to bring the vehicles inside the court’s premises so that the missing persons could be secured. The court granted the permission.
Additional defence secretary told the court that the presented persons were living an independent life and were traced with great effort for today’s hearing.
The reports said identification process of these recovered persons, has been completed as six people have been identified by their relatives. Additional Secretary Defence said the remaining people will be identified on Monday.
Attorney General of Pakistan Munir A Malik shied away from disclosing the details of in-camera proceedings.
Meantime, acting Defence Secretary Arif Nazeer directed the media not to unfold the identity of the missing persons, urging that their names and videos should not be aired.
To a query regarding the missing persons kept in tribal areas, the secretary defence noted, “If it had been possible for us to bring missing persons from Kunar, we would have brought here Fazlullah (chief of banned TTP).”
He briefed the media that these people have been brought here after being tracked down, as all of them were leading an independent existence
