Missing prisoners’ case: sc orders treatment of 2 ailing prisoners

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and interior secretary to ensure medical treatment to two prisoners in the case of 11 missing prisoners from Adiala Jail. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry heard the Adiala Jail missing prisoners’ case on Thursday. Tariq Asad, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had kept the prisoners in illegal custody for 19 months under the Army Act. The prisoners were recovered from the ISI after the court’s order and then they were again sent to Landi Kotal detention centre where the condition of two prisoners Abdul Malik and Abdul Basit was reported to be critical, the counsel said. Despite court orders, these two prisoners had not been provided any medical treatment and neither were they shifted to a suitable place. They have not been tried and are devoid of basic facilities, we can only request the court as there is no one else who would listen, the counsel said. He also pleaded to the court for immediate release of these two prisoners. The chief justice remarked that the prisoners were shifted to according to the law and if any human rights violations had been made, then necessary action would be taken. “But you should also keep in mind our limitations, as we cannot go beyond our limit,” the CJP added.