ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) on the application that has challenged the internment authority law.

A three-member bench - headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain - was hearing the case of 11 missing prisoners, which were allegedly picked up by the agencies after their release from the Adiala Jail.
Raja Muhammad Irshad, the counsel for ISI and MI, informed the court that the two prisoners, Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid, could not be released as they were involved in anti-state activities and attacks on army installations.
Tariq Asad Advocate told the judges that he had challenged the internment authority law and asked the bench to hear the petition for a clear verdict because the issue of the aforementioned prisoners was linked to it.
Tariq said the counsel of ISI and MI had told the court that the prisoners, allegedly picked by the agencies, would be tried under the Army Act, but, after keeping them in custody for 20 months, he was now arguing that the prisoners could not be tried under the said act.
The counsel questioned who would take the responsibility of keeping the prisoners in custody for 20 months.
He added that he met with the both the prisoners at the internment centre in Parachinar. However, Additional Chief Secretary FATA Tashfeen misbehaved with him during the meeting and chucked him out of the room.
The court, while taking notice of the maltreatment, said it would not allow anyone to misbehave with the senior lawyers.
The chief justice asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general to get reply from the additional secretary on the issue.
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said the prisoners should be treated in accordance with the law, adding the two captives were not war criminals.
"Our religion teaches us even to treat the war prisoners nicely and we have examples of Holy Prophet and also of the four Caliphs."
Deputy Attorney General Dil Muhammad Alizai said Mufti Abdul Bais, the brother of the prisoners, had submitted an application before the court for their release.
The court allowed the seven prisoners to become the party in the case and permitted to change the title of the case, before adjourning the hearing for two weeks.