ISLAMABAD, 21 April 2007 — A Supreme Court judge, Justice Javed Iqbal, yesterday issued notices to the ministries of defense and interior in the case concerning disappearances of people.
Many people who have been critical of the government’s role in the US war on terror have gone missing and relatives say they are picked up by intelligence agencies.
The top court asked Deputy Attorney General Raja Arshad to inform the court about the whereabouts of the missing people.
Arshad told the court he was unable to provide more information as some ministries and government organizations were not cooperating.
He said that despite many reminders to the intelligence agencies through the defense and interior ministries, no information about the missing people had been provided.
The court then issued notices to Defense Secretary Kamran Rasool, Secretary at the Interior Ministry Kamal Shah and Director General of the Crisis Management Cell Brig. Cheema.
In a recent public meeting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had said he had no idea where the missing people were and added they might have joined militant groups like Al-Qaeda or went for jihad somewhere.
Suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has said recently his move to take up the cases of missing persons was one of the reasons that led to his suspension.
Arms Depot Demolished
Paramilitary Khyber Rifles demolished an arms storage facility of Lashkar-e-Islami group in Khyber Agency yesterday. A trader of Karkhano Market, Ayub Afridi, told Arab News the building demolished was in fact a market where 43 shops were gutted during the action.
