From rxpgnews.com
199 'missing' people with Pakistani intelligence agencies
By IANS,
Mar 9, 2007 - 12:43:05 PM
Islamabad, March 9 - Intelligence agencies in Pakistan continue to hold 199 people, and those released from custody have complained of prolonged isolation and physical and mental torture, rights groups have told the Supreme Court.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan - provided a list of 140 missing persons, while the main complainant Amina Masood Janjua submitted another one of 59 disappearances to the full bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Ifftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Thursday.
The court issued notices to the federal and provincial governments for March 26 in the HRCP's constitutional petition and complaints regarding recovery of people who have been missing for many months.
The HRCP maintains in its petition that those who disappeared but were subsequently released by state agents have given testimonies in HRCP offices. It said their testimonies reveal that they were illegally picked up, subjected to prolonged isolation as well as physical and mental torture by law enforcement agencies to extract confessions against themselves or against their friends and relatives.
The HRCP said those who have been released are reluctant to take any action because they are scared. A large number of citizens picked up belong to religious groups, nationalist parties or were students, journalists, scientists and even members of armed forces, reported The News.
The HRCP has appealed to the Supreme Court to assure security and protection for the freed persons so they can come to the apex court and record their statements. HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir assisted the organisation's lawyer Fakharuddin G. Ibrahim.
Amina Masood Janjua, whose husband Masood Ahmad Janjua has been missing, had already presented a list of people who disappeared several months ago.
The aggrieved family members have been staging protests in front of parliament, the Supreme Court and offices of human right groups. They have also been meeting ministers and senior officials to mobilise support for their cause.
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