Supreme Court of Pakistan. — Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed that the 11 missing accused be recovered by November 10 and adjourned the hearing of the petition against their alleged abduction till the said date.

The petition was filed against the alleged abduction of Dr Niaz Ahmed, Mazharul Haq, Shafiqur Rehman, Mohammad Aamir, Abdul Majid, Abdul Basit, Abdul Saboor, Shafique Ahmed, Said Arab, Gul Roze and Tehseenullah from Adiala jail.

The 11 suspected terrorists were allegedly abducted by some intelligence agencies soon after their release from Adiala jail.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday heard the petition moved by Attiqur Rehman and others against the alleged abduction.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Chief Secretary Punjab Nasir Khosa appeared before the apex court and submitted an undertaking saying the missing men will be recovered.

The court had earlier summoned the chief secretary to give justification for his home secretary’s admission expressing his helplessness in recovering the missing persons.

The 11 had been acquitted by trial courts in four terrorism cases including charges under the Explosive Substance Act in April.

Later, the Lahore High Court (LHC) upheld the trial court`s decision and ordered their release on May 26.

They were arrested in connection with rocket attack on the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, firing anti-aircraft missile on a plane carrying former President Pervez Musharraf and carrying out suicide attacks on the bus of an intelligence agency in Rawalpindi and at the main entrance of the GHQ.

Subsequently, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Wassal issued a detention order on April 8 to prevent the release of the suspects. After the expiry of that order a similar decree was issued by Home Secretary Shahid Khan.

According to the petitioners, their relatives were abducted from the Rawalpindi Adiala Jail and allegedly handed over to the intelligence agencies when the high court directed to set them free in May. A case has also been registered in this regard.

The Adiala jail superintendent, Saeedullah Gondal, and Deputy Superintendent Khalid Bashir were arrested from the apex court premises on the orders of the chief justice on October 26.

Deputy Attorney General K K Agha during Monday’s proceedings told the court that he had contacted Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and the Directorate of the Intelligence Bureau (DIB) but none had accepted that the people named in the petition were in their custody.

Prima facie, the court noted, Inspector General Prisons Punjab Kowkab Nadeem Warriach tampered official record to show that superintendent jail was on leave when the alleged custody of the suspects were given to the intelligence agencies. The bench on Monday also took IG prison to task for his casual attitude in running the affairs of his department.

However, the IG prisons tried to explain to the court that leaves to officers like the superintendent jail of Adiala as well as that of Multan were always granted in discreet manner because they have life threats and their movements were closely monitored by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The home secretary said the only agency that could trace the people is police, and the provincial government had no control over them under the Police Order.