ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: The issue of enforced disappearance remained as murky as it has always been although the defence ministry came out on Tuesday with a little more information relating to the whereabouts of three of the 33 missing persons but appeared reluctant to produce the others despite a clear order of the Supreme Court.

Acting Defence Secretary retired Maj Gen Raja Arif Nazir informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry hearing a case relating to disappearance of one Yasin Shah that a ground check had led to the whereabouts of another three missing persons.

He had informed the court on Monday about the death of two of the 35 detainees the court had ordered to be produced and insisted that they died of natural causes in an internment centre in Malakand.

In another case relating to missing persons of Balochistan, the same bench ordered the inspector general of Frontier Corps to appear before it on Dec 5 or face contempt charges for not complying with its orders.

The bench refused to accept a sealed envelop submitted on behalf of FC Inspector General Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid explaining reasons for his absence from the court.

Maj Mohammad Nadeem, representing the FC, said Maj Gen Shahid was commanding a force and his summoning was affecting the morale of the FC.

The acting defence secretary informed the court that Habibullah had been released, along with two others, on April 28 last year and he left for Saudi Arabia on Dec 18. He submitted Habibullah’s travel history and said that before release he was in a rehabilitation centre.

Acting Defence Secretary Maj Gen Raja Nazir said the ministry would like to keep the identity of the two others confidential. They have been working in the country since their release and disclosing their names will jeopardise their security.

But the whereabouts of Yasin Shah was still a mystery, he said, adding that the ground check was in progress to trace the other persons. He said the search in the tribal belt was time consuming, risky and hazardous because of harsh weather, administrative problems and the prevailing environment.

The handing and taking over certificates of the two detainees, Sardar Ali and Nadir Khan, who had died on Dec 29 last year and July 1 this year, respectively, at the Lakki Marwat Internment Centre inside the Malakand garrison, and doctor’s reports were submitted to the court.

The acting defence secretary denied that the army had the custody of the remaining 30 persons. But the court described the information as a ‘lollypop’ being provided piecemeal.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stepped in at this stage and said that both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif were of the same mind. He said he was confident that the emotive issue of enforced disappearances would reach a logical end because a law would soon be passed to deal with the situation.

“We are living in a civilised world and the menace of extra-judicial killings should end,” the minister said, adding that the PML-N government would not tolerate enforced disappearances and endeavour to strengthen the legacy which the chief justice was leaving behind.

Khawaja Asif requested the court for some more time to recover the remaining persons.

But the court said it was ready to arrange for their production even before the SC registrar in camera if the government had security concerns. It asked the defence secretary to produce the remaining detainees or provide the names of people whom the court had been protecting for five years but they were reluctant to obey a clear order of the court.

“Even the prime minister and the army chief are not above the law and are subservient to the constitution,” the court observed.

It expressed dismay over what it called the arrogance of the acting defence secretary who said he himself was responsible for everything when he was asked to name those with whom he had discussed the matter of production of the missing persons.

The court put off the hearing for some time but adjourned it to Dec 5 at the request of Attorney General Muneer A. Malik.

BALOCHISTAN CASE: The court ordered the FC and Balochistan police to produce the missing persons on Dec 5 without any fail. It directed that the order for summoning the FC chief be sent to the interior ministry which controlled the working of the force. Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid should also be informed about it.

Quetta police chief DIG Zulfikar Cheema informed the court that the kidnapped doctor, Munaf Tareen, had returned home but he was not in a position to say if a ransom of Rs50 million had been paid for his release.

Although security for doctors had been beefed up in Quetta, incidents of target killing and kidnapping for ransom were continuing, the court regretted.

Dr Naqeebullah Achakzai regretted that the clinic of Dr Munaf from where he had been kidnapped was close to the FC headquarters surrounded by barricades and police checkposts. He said kidnappers always used vehicles with black tinted glass but were allowed to pass through all barricades. This forced the doctors’ community to believe that law-enforcement agencies were either not interested in solving the problem or were part of it, he said. DIG Cheema rejected the allegation and said police had launched a campaign against vehicles with tinted glass.