I’m no fan of Taliban or these fundos, but rule of law must be upheld. Army and ISI can’t just kill w/o due process of law.
A tearful meeting between brother captives of ISI
Umar Cheema
Thursday, February 09, 2012
ISLAMABAD: When Abdul Bais briefly met his two brothers in ISI’s custody, through Supreme Court’s intervention, he was left speechless. “They looked like ghosts; living dead,” he commented.
They were crying and curious to know whether their mother was still alive or dead. Neither they were aware that Abdul Saboor, third brother, had been killed in detention nor Abdul Bais had the nerves to play havoc with them. “They were too weak to walk and had been reduced to skeletons, counting their days in this cruel world.”
One of them, Abdul Majid, 24 now, was wearing a urine bag due to some kidney problem, a sight that brought a deluge of tears in Abdul Bais eyes. “I kissed the bag in a sign of sheer helplessness and then his thin feet with bare bones.”
As the visiting brother turned attention to Abdul Basit, 26, another brother under detention, he found him reduced to a bunch of bones, whose left foot has become disabled. “His foot looked like a deadwood.”
“I hid from them the tragic news of Abdul Saboor’s killing and their own sufferings as we kept staring at each other. Helplessness was being pronounced through our eyes,” said Abdul Bais, who met them on January 31, an opportunity granted on the directives of the apex court that was moved after the death of Abdul Saboor, fourth in the row killed in six-month span.
For the remaining seven still surviving, the ISI has been directed to produce them today (Thursday) before the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
After the court’s production order, the detainees have registered a better treatment being given to them, not knowing they are being prepared for appearance before the court. “We are receiving better treatment for sometimes,” Abdul Basit told his visiting brother.
There is only one pill for all ills, the detainee explained, no matter they feel headache, backache or suffer from other disease. Three families have been allowed to see their relatives under the ISI detention. When Abdul Bais met his brothers, kept in Lady Reading Hospital (Peshawar), he was escorted by two plain-clothed officials that he speculates was an intelligence officer accompanied by a low-ranking subordinate.
As he was taken to detained brothers, Abdul Bais saw them blind-folded and caps on their heads that were removed only during the course of meeting. “How is Saboor?,” was the first question Abdul Basit faced from the detainee brothers. “Hearing this was like being hit by a bombshell,” he later told The News. “I fought my tears back and feigned my ignorance.” The next emotionally-charged question shot at him was that whether the mother was alive or dead.
As they are kept and transported blindfolded, the detainees were unaware of their location, said Abdul Bais. They pleaded their innocence and started crying.“Ask him, tell our crime,” Abdul Basit said of the intelligence officer present on the occasion, addressing to his visiting brother. “None of our captors have ever told us about our crime,” he went on. “Instead we are told that the court had bailed us out of the allegations levelled relating to involvement in terrorism cases. We are told we have been proven innocent, yet not released.”
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court postponed a rare public hearing for the country’s secretive and powerful spy agency Thursday, a lawyer for one of the alleged victims of the agency said.
Long thought to be untouchable, the ISI, or Inter-Services Intelligence, has been ordered to produce seven men it’s accused of holding since 2010 and explaining the deaths of four other detainees.
But attorney Tariq Asad told CNN the court had delayed the hearing until Friday because other proceedings took up much of the day.
Asad said it was clear the lawyer for the ISI, who was present when the postponement was announced, had not brought the seven detainees to court as ordered.
The spy agency’s lawyer presented the court with medical certificates for four of them to show they were hospitalized, and he asked permission from the court to present confidential letters explaining the whereabouts of the other three men, Asad said.
It’s not yet clear if the spy agency will produce the detainees at Friday’s hearing.
For Rohaifa Bibi, the proceedings are personal. Her son, Abdul Saboor, was one of the four men who died while in the custody of the ISI, the family claims.
“He had so many marks on his body,” Bibi said, pointing to numerous scars in a picture of her son’s corpse. “When they showed me the body, he was just skin and bones.”
The ISI blamed the 29-year-old’s death on natural causes. His mother said the scars prove the agency tortured and killed her son.
“It’s absolute lies,” Bibi said. “First, I read in the papers Abdul Saboor committed suicide, then they said he died of tuberculosis. When someone lies they should at least remember which lie they used.”
Her outrage has the 60-year-old doing what few others in Pakistan have ever dared think – taking on the ISI and demanding answers.
Those who know the ISI’s reputation know few people have ever challenged Pakistan’s most feared and shadowy institution. The spy agency has long been accused of backing and toppling politicians, using militant groups as proxies and backing extrajudicial killings.
The ISI has long denied the accusations, but no one from the agency ever speaks publicly on camera and no one from the ISI has ever been put on trial.
Because it has the backing of the Supreme Court, the case of Saboor could be different. The court has ordered the ISI to explain why Saboor, his two brothers and eight other men were arrested and why four of them died.
“We are fighting for the rule of law,” Asad said.
Saboor and his brothers were law abiding citizens who printed Korans at a shop in Lahore, Asad said. He did acknowledge that all of the detainees were suspects in several militant attacks, but said they were acquitted of the charges in 2010.
A lawyer for the ISI told the Supreme Court that the spy agency did detain the men for further questioning but said they were set free. The ISI denies any role in their deaths and holds to its claim that they died of natural causes.
For Pakistan, the case is potentially a crucial test of the nation’s democracy. For a grieving mother, it’s a chance for justice.
“I can only hope that whoever has done this injustice to me, I hope their families suffer like I have,” Bibi said. “I hope one day they feel my pain.”
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
Correct it , There are no missing persons . They are abducted persons .
They are busy to do something before Senate election .
Just read this news . They attacked Police station to get back their sweeper .
Just to remind you that this happen often and they killed some police officers too last year in Punjab , And if it happens in Punjab ,what will be happening in Baluchistan .
You can not think of a suo moto for them .
From Dawn
Suspect forcibly taken away: police**LAHORE, Feb 8: The police were on Wednesday left protesting against some army personnel over the custody of a suspect in a 2011 forced-marriage case.
**
The police said a group of army men forcibly took away the suspect from the Misri Shah police station on Wednesday evening.
Not only this, the police officials claimed the soldiers briefly held hostage a sub-inspector and gave a thrashing to other staff at the police station. The sub-inspector, identified simply as Javed, had arrested Saleem Masih, working as a sweeper in an army unit, in a forced-marriage case registered in 2011.Military sources rebutted the police claim. They said only two personnel had secured the release of Saleem Masih from police custody and termed Masih’s arrest “unauthorised and illegal”.According to police sources, a case (897/11) under Section 496 (Marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through…) and 380 (Theft in dwelling house, etc.) of the PPC was registered against Saleem Masih. The complainant was Anjum Shahzadi, who said Masih had forced her daughter to marry him.It is said that SI Javed arrested and brought him to the police station on Wednesday, only to see his catch snatched away soon afterwards. The police said Javed was himself taken away and was set free near the Murghi Khana stop in the cantonment.Military sources, however, insisted that “it is totally wrong to say” that the police station was “raided” by a contingent led by an officer. According to the military law, police were required to give prior information to the authorities concerned before arresting any military personnel or a civilian employed with the army and this was not done in this case.They said that higher authorities on the two sides were in contact with each other for an amicable resolution of the issue and inquiries were under way to find truth and pin responsibility.The military sources denied that SI Javed had been taken away from the police station. They said Saleem Masih might be handed over to police if it was established that he was genuinely involved in the case.
****ISLAMABAD: **The Supreme Court remained adamant in its ruling today. It told the counsel of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) chiefs that the bench will wait till 7pm in the court until the missing prisoners of Adiala Jail are brought before the court.
**
The court had earlier directed the counsel of ISI and MI chiefs Raja Irshad that the missing prisoners be presented before the court after Irshad told the court that four out of 11 prisoners picked up from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, had died in custody, but of “natural causes”.
Resuming the hearing on Friday, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry questioned Irshad, “Which authority considers itself above the law and is intervening in court’s matter.” The chief justice asked Irshad why court’s orders were not followed properly.
**Irshad told the court that the prisoners were in poor health condition and that they could not be presented before the court. Justice Arif Khilji responded saying that if the patients should have been brought to the court even if they were to be brought on a “stretcher”.
**
**In his defense, Irshad presented a letter to the court which entailed the details of the prisoners’ medical condition and stated that currently, they could not be moved out of the hospital.
**
The chief justice remarked that if the prime minister of Pakistan could be summoned to the court for not complying to its orders, then it does not leave room for anyone else to obey court’s orders.
“Bring them [the patients] in helicopters, if they cannot be brought in cars,” said the chief justice.
**The bench also asked the counsel of ISI and MI that why the patients were admitted in hospitals located outside Islamabad when there are “enough hospitals in Islamabad as well.”
** The court said that an investigation could also be initiated against ISI and MI under Article 9 of the Constitution for not following the court’s orders. “This is a violation of fundamental rights of an individual. We have to determine the reason of the deaths,” said Chief Justice Chaudhry.
Justice Tariq Parvez observed that the whole world felt the gravity of the case and said that institutions in Pakistan “have done nothing about it so far.”
The civilians had been facing a court martial under the Army Act on charges of attacking the General Headquarters (GHQ) and ISI’s Hamza Camp base.
They were picked up from Adiala Jail by intelligence agencies after they had been acquitted of the charges by the court.
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
ISI is making excuses now, saying that they will not be able to bring the prisoners today, and airlifting also not possible due to bad weather therefore court should give them more time (till Monday). I hope the court issues contempt notice against ISI and MI chiefs now.
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
Impossible to present detainees today:court told
**While talking to the Dunya News, attorney for agencies Raja Irshad in missing persons case said the detainees will not be produced in the Supreme Court today.
He added that concerned authorities have been informed that four detainees are in a Peshawar hospital and three of them are in Parachinar.
**
Earliar, a special bench of the SC led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry conducted hearing of the missing persons’ case.
The counsel for the secret agencies Raja Irshad said that it was not possible to bring the detainees in the court today as some of them were sick while others are in Parachanar.
**
After hearing arguments, the Supreme Court ordered that the detainees should be appeared before the court at every cost, even by helicopter.
Chief Justice consulted the counsel for the secret agencies, “Inform us as which authority is violating court orders.”**
PM will appear before SC on Feb 13, confirms Ahsan
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday threw out an appeal from embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani against contempt charges, paving the way for him to be indicted next week.
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
[quote=“Ali_Syed, post:8, topic:254291”]
@](https://twitter.com/#!/UmarCheema1)Umar Cheema1Umar Cheema
This is a test case for SC: 1) For the first time ISI admitted abducting them; 2) Four, out of 11, have already been killed in custody.
Bana hay Aish Tajamal Hussain Khan kay liay
بنا ہے عیش تجمل حسین خاں کے لئے
Hanging , ,jailing , sentences , and condemnatory of courts charges for PPP and rest of Pakistan excluding Lahore province .
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
Pasha should be summoned to the court just as Gilani was called. He cannot rule the country in the name of its security. Pakistan isn't ISI's kingdom. While we all appreciate the way the executive is being reminded of its limits and responsibilites, army and ISI shouldn't be made any exception and must be brough under the ambient of the law of the land. No more holy cows please.
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
CJ has summoned Defence Sec in the court and asked to give explanation about missing person’s whereabouts ! CJ said “ager sec defece sai opper k kisi bandy ko bulana para tu wo bhi bulaeen gai”.
so in memo case court directly ask ISI and Army chief from the word go to give their input mager aab yaad aagaya k defence sec is the right person`
aab contempt of court nahi ho rahi? Why not summon ISI chief like they did for PM?
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
CRY CRY CRY
Let us be criminals because someone else is a criminal.. do not ask us to abide the law because someone else also does not abide the law. Aah they call us bloody civilians so we are justified to call them bloody army.. Give me a license to rob the country because someone else does the same.. (what sort of a twisted/disgusting logic is this)…
By the way they have given more than 2 years to the political government to implement court decisions. It’s not an option for the PM.. it is an obligation according to law.. “And in a civilised country ruled by the law, those who hold law in contempt and celebrate its defiance are criminals and not heroes.”
The change we crave
Babar Sattar
Saturday, February 11, 2012
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.
Given the feeble arguments in the intra-court appeal filed by the prime minister against the decision of the apex court to frame charges in the contempt case, its dismissal was a foregone conclusion. The manner in which the bench led by the chief justice conducted the proceedings made justice stand tall. But unfortunately the text of the intra-court appeal included within it an obituary of spirit that drove the rule of law movement.
Aitzaz Ahsan had ably led the movement for constitutionalism and rule of law that galvanised this nation and unleashed winds of change. The combination of his political dexterity and legal acumen deserves all credit for enamouring ordinary people with the idea that in Pakistan law can be king.
When Prime Minister Gilani stood in parliament on that historic day of March 2008 and announced that his first order as prime minister would be to release the deposed judges from illegal detention, people had tears in their eyes. These were tears of joy inspired by the sense that democracy and rule of law were finally being wedded together in Pakistan.
But the joy was short-lived. Even disregarding how the PPP-led government dragged its feet over the restoration issue, the manner in which it has conducted itself as the executive and the ruling party over the last four years has nurtured the destructive notion that democracy and rule of law are pitted against one another.
The proceedings in the intra-court appeal on Thursday probably exposed the falsity of this projected duel when Aitzaz Ahsan stood in Court Room No 1 and called in the ‘favour’ the prime minister had done the judges now sitting in judgment over the conduct of the prime minister. The contempt case is now largely an open and shut case, its importance lying primarily in the political consequences it could produce.** The real significance of this case is not legal or even political, but sociological. It provides an insight into the mindset of our ruling elite and our collective approach to state authority, patronage, loyalty and rule of law.**
It is hard to see how parts of the appeal reminding the judges that the prime minister now being tried for contempt had released them (and their kids) from illegal detention were meant to emphasise the high esteem in which Gilani supposedly holds the judges. The reminders were in bad taste to put it mildly, as also noted by the judges. But they raise crucial questions not just about the nature and exercise of state authority, but also the rationale of the rule of law movement. Let’s start with the latter.
What was this movement about? Was it merely a ‘service matter’, to use legal jargon, limited to getting wrongfully dismissed judges their jobs back? Or was it about ensuring that the courts in Pakistan become neutral arbiters of the law, rule of law restrains whims of rulers, and the judicial system ensures legal equality for ordinary citizens and reduces the gap between the letter of the law and its practice? If the lawyers’ movement was about a higher ideal aimed at reigning in abuse of state authority, perpetration of injustice and strengthening constitutionalism and democracy, wasn’t restoration of judges only the means to this worthy end?
In standing behind the rule of law and restoration of judges, didn’t every lawyer and citizen stand for his personal cause i e building a state decent enough to live in and raise ones kids?
The biggest failing of the rule of law movement was that it cultivated within lawyers active in the movement a sense of entitlement and an expectation of reward for their role in facilitating the restoration of the judges. Those who were of age thought they deserved to become judges. Those who were beyond that stage in their careers thought they deserved preferential treatment in courts. The younger ones thought they had a licence to indulge in hooliganism.
And the biggest failing of the restored judges was that they did not quell this sense of entitlement. The appointment of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court at times affirmed the impression that loyalty during the movement was being rewarded. Bar councils got divided on the basis of allegiance to restored judges. Elections were won and lost on grounds of ‘closeness’ to the bench.
The reminder during court proceedings on Thursday that the prime minister was a key benefactor of judges was a culmination of this toxic trend. The judges handled it well. Enough time has now passed for the hangover of restoration to subside and the nonsense about lawyers being foot soldiers of the court to wither away.
When the prime minister ordered the release of the judges, did he not exercise state authority vested in him to undo an illegality? Is the chief executive of the country not a fiduciary mandated to exercise public authority in accordance with the law and the Constitution? What is Gilani’s self-perception of his job and the responsibilities it brings along if upholding the law and doing the right thing seems to him to be doing others a favour?
Isn’t that the larger problem with exercise of public authority in this country that even elected representatives treat state authority as a handmaiden meant to benefit and patronise individuals and not a trust to be discharged for the collective good of all citizens? Do elected public office holders ever consider that once elected they have a solemn duty to serve all citizens and not just the local clique that secured their electoral victory?
Will we ever graduate from the present state where the government is an assemblage of personalised networks of patronage to one where parties are judged on the basis of the system of governance and the policies they propose to bring along? And can it even happen in a society where loyalty is meant to be unconditional and all criticism personal?
**At the back of the melodrama this country is presently enduring is the simple matter of legal charges brought against the PPP’s co-chairperson in Switzerland, that carry the possibility of establishing that he is corrupt. And the largest political party of this country (together with its political allies) has sprung into action to ensure that the veracity of charges against the person of Asif Zardari is not determined.
Such idol-worship and blind allegiance to individuals transcends political parties and characterises all our state and societal institutions**. Abraham Lincoln had famously stated that, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”
Is our sense of loyalty such that it will always demand of us to stand with a comrade whether he is right or wrong? Must devotion to an individual or a cause trump one’s ability to say it as it is? Is flattery and hypocrisy now an integral part of our national character?
The change that we crave will not be brought about by a change of faces. Instead the choice of a different lot to lead the nation will be the consequence of a preceding change in our existing individual and collective attitudes and preferences that are neither compatible with the spirit of democracy nor with rule of law.
We must realise that in a constitutional democracy legal accountability and political accountability are complementary concepts and the latter is not a substitute for the former.** And in a civilised country ruled by the law, those who hold law in contempt and celebrate its defiance are criminals and not heroes.**
Re: So when will the CJ hold ISI & military in contemp of court?
CJ can give more time to them but can not give 10 days to Etzaz .
Aah bloody civilians .
Is year and half is not enough, what PM is looking for, is his printer out or order or he is not been able to find pen and paper during that period and how come suddenly he'll find it in next ten days..
SC have given more than needed time to Govt and Gillani... they have consumed all that time with the likes of Babar awan!!!
