• Defence ministry says poet not in agencies’ custody; judge asks police to record statement of sleuths
• Law minister urges IHC judge to exercise restraint, says remarks about summoning PM tantamount to ‘undermining parliament’

ISLAMABAD: After an Islamabad High Court judge came down hard on an intelligence agency for its alleged involvement in the disappearance of a Kashmiri poet, the law minister convened a press conference to urge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani to exercise restraint in matters related to the military and the cabinet.

During the hearing of a petition lodged by the wife of the missing poet, Justice Kayani warned the institutions of the consequences of the practice of enforced disappearances.

At the outset of the proceedings, the petitioner’s lawyer informed the bench that an application was submitted on Saturday for the withdrawal of the primary petition on the grounds that “contact has been established and the petitioner’s husband is ok”.

The counsel said the plea was filed after alleged assurance by the intelligence agency through telephone and text messages to the petitioner, Syed Urooj Zainab.

During this communication, the intelligence officials ensured that the detenu would be released on Saturday night; therefore, the copy of the application seeking withdrawal of the petition was also conveyed through the same channel to the officials concerned, the court said, adding that even then, the matter was kept pending till Monday.

Brig Falak Naz, representing the defence ministry, and Lt Col Kafeel Khan, director (legal), contended that they needed two to three days for the verification of the whereabouts of Ahmed Farhad from their intelligence agencies.

In these peculiar circumstances, allegations have prima facie been levelled against the intelligence agency, said the court.

Brig Naz informed the court that he conveyed the directions of the judge to the secretary of the Ministry of Defence, but the concise report needed time to prepare.

Justice Kayani expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the defence ministry as well as officials of the intelligence agency and sought a report from the defence secretary by Tuesday (today).

Police to record statements

The court also directed the Islamabad SSP (Operations) along with other officials to investigate the allegations with reference to the officials of ISI by recording the statement of officials and submitting a progress report on Tuesday.

During the hearing, Justice Kayani directed the investigation officer to record the statement of the ISI DG and sector commander. He said that the sector commander was a BS-18 officer and that the investigation officer should proceed in accordance with the law.

The judge warned that the court would summon the prime minister and the federal cabinet if the poet was not recovered.

Law minister’s presser

Hours later, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar took exception to the remarks made by the IHC judge, saying the defence ministry informed the court that the missing poet was not in the custody of its subordinate agencies and an FIR had already registered, with the investigation underway.

He said that the government also assured cooperation with the investigation team, but the judge remarked that the probe would not resolve the problem and federal secretaries, officers of armed forces, prime minister and federal ministers would be summoned.

According to him, enforced disappearances were a very serious matter and needed to be tackled seriously and without media hype.

Downplaying the illegal practice, the law minister claimed the issue of enforced disappearance was complicated as “most of them” had allegedly gone to the neighbouring countries and were involved in “rebellion”.

He pointed out that the high court could not proceed against personnel of armed forces due to the constitutional bar of Article 199(3), while Article 248 protected the PM and his cabinet.

He said that the remarks of summoning the entire cabinet and holding a cabinet meeting in the court were tantamount to undermining parliament, which empowered the PM and his ministers to govern the country.

He added that the court could not exercise the powers vested in the armed forces, the defence ministry, the prime minister and the federal cabinet.

The law minister went on to say that it was a set principle that the court would not interfere in the matter after the registration of the FIR.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2024