ISLAMABAD (INP): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) summoned top officials of the intelligence agencies and federal law minister in the poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah’s missing case.
In an eight-page written order of Friday’s hearing, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani directed the concerned authorities to recover the missing journalist and submit a report to the IHC registrar by May 29. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani also ordered to telecast all cases of missing persons live.
The IHC judge directed Sector Commanders of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) as well as the Director Intelligence Bureau (IB) to appear in person in the next hearing scheduled for May 29. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani also summoned Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and secretaries of defence and interior in the next hearing.
During Friday’s hearing, AGP Awan and Islamabad Inspector General (IG) Ali Nasir Rizvi appeared before the court. The court order, said: “The AGP was asked [whether] the law enforcement institutions, including ISI and MI, were performing their duties under any law to which the AGP said that the ISI is directly accountable to the prime minister of Pakistan while the MI is associated with the defence secretary and the armed forces of Pakistan.
“Looking at the explanation of this matter, the court considers it necessary that all the institutions should work within their constitutional limits, but in the present situation, we cannot do a comparative assessment of the administrative performance of the ISI with the police, FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) and CTD (Counter-Terrorism Department) until the court is briefed about official practices in institutions such as the ISI and MI, including the way to conduct investigation and inquiry.”
The order said the defence secretary was thus summoned in his personal capacity so he could submit a written explanation to the court on the above matters. “This would allow the court to clarify the role of the agencies in the jurisdiction of police investigation in the future and lead them to be accountable in the jurisdiction of the court,” the order said.
It further said: “During the discussion, the court has come to the conclusion that the issue of missing persons is the most important issue of public interest at the moment,” adding that for this, no legislation was passed by Parliament so far to “make the role of law enforcement agencies usable or responsible”. The court order said that no considerable benefit was availed from the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, adding that all such issues could only be solved currently by understanding the “internal discretionary and administrative matters” of the aforementioned agencies.
