ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Monday ordered recovery of eight missing persons, allegedly picked up by the agencies during the military operation in Malakand in 2009.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heading a three-member bench of the apex court was hearing the missing persons' case. Abdul Sattar, the petitioner, representing families of the missing persons in Malakand told the bench that army officers during the search operation in July 2009 had forcefully picked up his son, brother and nephews. He claimed during the operation, Col Naeem, who was commanding the unit, had told him that one of his nephews is required by the military and if you hand over to him then they would release other persons, who were in their custody. The petitioner further told the court that on the refusal to hand his nephew after four month they found mutilated body of their other nephew, who were already in the custody of army, while don't know the whereabouts of other nephews, brother and son, he said.
On the query by the court Commander Shahbaz, Director (Legal) Ministry of Defence, said that the matter came to his knowledge on September 28 and after that he contacted General Headquarters (GHQ) Rawalpindi regarding the matter. But so far has not received any response from them.
The chief justice remarked that after hearing the petitioner there was no need for further explanation and ordered him to recover eight persons. The court ordered Commander Shahbaz to submit the report on the next hearing and adjourned the case till October 10, 2012.