The 18 kg skeletal man is now dead

inna lillahe wa inna ilehi ra`jeoon

He is dead in the name of national security, which is a synonym for “licence to commit crimes”.


He was arrested, held incommunicado, tortured and when eventually produced before the Supreme Court three weeks ago on Friday in a missing persons’ case, he wieghed only 18 pounds. The Supreme Court ordered his treatment at the Agha Khan Hospital, but he died Friday, May 18th, reports Geo TV.



Missing persons - they just disappear, and most are never heard of again.

Sometimes, they are released to their families in emaciated conditions, but no one talks. The families often move away.





Sometimes, their bodies are found, with torture marks, but the official report is that they died of natural causes - sudden heart failure, and the like.





Some of them come back from Guantamao Bay, or other exotic "facilities" maintained by that champion of human rights, the US of A.



A man named Saud Memon was brought to the Supreme Court on Friday carried on a stretcher during a hearing of the Missing Persons Case.



According to the Nation:



http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/may-2007/5/index3.php

“Saud Memon [was] arrested on March 7, 2003



"[He} is a cloth merchant from Karachi and had gone to South Africa on a business trip when he was arrested."



“[He] was sent to Guantanamo Bay and was handed over to Pakistani agencies in 2006"



“[He] was released by the Intelligence Agencies on April 28, 2007”



"On April 28, he was found dumped at a place near his house in Karachi."



“[He] is in a critical condition and due to harsh treatment meted out to him, has lost his memory and weight. Now he weighs only 18 kgs. He has shrunk into a skeleton and can neither walk nor hold his head."



“It was confirmed by three other people released from ISI’s detention that Saud Memon was also with them in ISI custody.”



One would imagine that the horrendous sufferings of this poor man are over, but no. As Dawn tells us:



‘This skeleton of a man has a reward of Rs3 million on his head in the Red Book of our Interior Ministry’, advocate Shaukat Akhtar Siddiqui told the court, pointing to the emaciated body of Saud Memon brought on a stretcher.



___________________________________________________________


Skeleton of a man brought to court on stretcher: SC seeks affidavits on freed people





By Nasir Iqbal



ISLAMABAD, May 4: A middle-aged man missing since 2003 was produced in the Supreme Court on Friday in such a bad shape that the court ordered his immediate medical check-up.



This skeleton of a man has a reward of Rs3 million on his head in the Red Book of our Interior Ministry, advocate Shaukat Akhtar Siddiqui told the court, pointing to the emaciated body of Saud Memon brought on a stretcher.



A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan has taken up petitions of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar for recovery of missing people and complaints of Ms Amina Masood Janjua, Saqlain Mehdi, Aisha, Abdul Ghaffar, Amtul Hafiz, Fatima, Mohammad Ikram Alvi, Arif Abbasi and Syed Babar.



The FBI had arrested Mr Memon, 44, in South Africa on March 7, 2003, kept him at the Guantanamo Bay prison for over two years and then handed him over to the ISI. He was brought to the courtroom on a stretcher. Last week, he had been left in a pulp near his house.



On a request of Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim, the counsel of the HRCP, the bench also ordered the government to submit affidavits suggesting who had picked up the recently released 56 of the 136 missing people. The affidavits should state where the people during their captivity had been kept, whether they had been produced in any court, what the charges against them were and why they were freed.



Advocate Ibrahim also asked to set up a commission for probe and to take evidence of people who had been picked up but released, to end this menace.



The HRCP also filed a rejoinder in the court questioning the term freed used by the interior ministry for the released persons to be a vague expression concealing all the illegality done by the agency apparatus.



The court also directed Farhatullah Babar to submit his proposals in writing for reining in state agencies in respect of missing people.



In his suggestions, Mr Babar had stated that since the ISI and the MI were answerable to the Ministry of Defence, their heads should be asked by the ministry to furnish affidavits certifying about the missing people. Such affidavits, according to him, would be helpful in holding accountable those responsible for disappearance of people and torturing them without any legal basis. He had also proposed that the interior ministry should be directed to place advertisements in leading national dailies and on the electronic media inviting citizens to come forward with details about the missing people, giving their names, addresses, date of disappearance, circumstances of disappearance and any other relevant information they knew.



The court directed to shift Mr Memon to the Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi or any convenient health facility for his medical check-up and restrained the authorities not to arrest him before approval of the court.



On Friday, Deputy Attorney-General Tariq Khokhar presented a compliance report regarding missing Atiqur Rehman, a scientist in Nilour and picked up on the day of his marriage; Faisal Faraz, a mechanical engineer; Imran Munir, Qari Saifullah Akhtar and Naeem Noor Khan.



He said that except for Imran Munir, the whereabouts of none were traceable. Mr Munir was facing a trial in the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) on spying charges, he added. The court directed to arrange a meeting between the detained person and his family.



The bench, however, was not impressed with the pace of progress in the case and observed that agencies had to provide information about the whereabouts when they had apprehended the people.



On Faisal Faraz, the court summoned the district police officer and the station house officer concerned, who had accepted that Mr Faraz had been picked up by intelligence agencies, along with relevant record.



On Attiqur Rehman, the NWFP Inspector General of Police and the Abbotabad DPO were summoned for Friday next.



The court was informed that National Crisis Management Cell director Col Javed Iqbal Lodhi had been appointed the resource person in the missing people case. The court also directed the government to submit concise statements on all the petitions.



Today, he is suffers no more. He has died.



inna lillahe wa inna ilehe ra`jeoon



This man might have been suspected of being a religious extremist but so far no court seems to have been provided with any evidence of his crimes.



More importantly, no one has the right on God's earth to treat an individual as a piece of garbage.


SC seeks traced persons affidavits




Iman Hasan


ISLAMABAD- Justice Javed Iqbal ordered Interior Ministry to submit affidavits of the 56 people who were traced by it last week. He directed the ministry to incorporate details in the affidavits regarding the date and place of abduction, duration and place of detention and charges levelled against recovered people.



He gave these orders while chairing the three-member bench of the Supreme Court here on Friday. Those 56 recovered people are out of the list of 136 missing people compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, represented by advocates Supreme Court Asma Jahangir, Fakhar-ud-din G Ibrahim and Iqbal Haider.



Another recently recovered person, Saud Memon, who was released by the Intelligence Agencies on April 28, 2007; was also brought before the Supreme Court. Saud Memon, arrested on March 7, 2003; is in a critical condition and due to harsh treatment meted out to him, has lost his memory and weight. Now he weighs only 18 kgs. He has shrunk into a skeleton and can neither walk nor hold his head. On April 28, he was found dumped at a place near his house in Karachi.



According to Amna Janjua, it was confirmed by three other people released from ISI’s detention that Saud Memon was also with them in ISI custody.
According to Saud Memon’s family, he was arrested from South Africa by FBI on March 7, 2004; and was sent to Guantanamo Bay and was handed over to Pakistani agencies in 2006. Saud Memon is a cloth merchant from Karachi and had gone to South Africa on a business trip when he was arrested.



Justice Javed Iqbal ordered the newly appointed Deputy Attorney General Barrister Tariq Khokhar to have him treated at Agha Khan Hospital and his medical report be presented to the apex court.



Saud Memon’s brother pleaded before the court that Saud Memon’s name should be removed from the ‘Red Book’ compiled by the Interior Ministry, which contains the names the people wanted by the government. The head money set by the government for Saud Memon is Rs 30 lakh.


“Saud Memon should not be arrested without approval of this court,” ordered Justice Javed Iqbal.



During the court’s proceedings Deputy Attorney General presented the concise report on behalf of National Crisis Management Cell concerning those seven people inquired by the Supreme Court on the last hearing on April 27. According to the findings of NCMC, Faisal Faraz is not traceable.
Faisal Faraz, resident of Lahore was abducted from Rawalpindi Daewoo Bus Stop on July 30, 2005. A mechanical engineer, Faisal, was working for a Finland-based company, Wartsila, in Lahore.



Justice Javed Iqbal while addressing the representative of the NCMC of Interior Ministry, Col Imran, said, “Are you denying that he was picked up.


It should be furnished by the agencies if he was picked up by them.”



Justice Javed Iqbal questioned Col Imran about the efforts NCMC has made so far in recovering Faisal Faraz and others missing people.
Col Imran assured the court that, “We don’t have him and we have contacted all the agencies. We are still making efforts.”



Justice Javed Iqbal instructed Col. Imran that all those missing people have to be traced out. He further said that law has not given any right to any government department to abduct people unlawfully and whosoever exercises such powers, will have to be answerable before the Supreme Court.



“Legal action will be taken regardless of who is who,” said Justice Javed Iqbal.



Over the insistence of families and lawyers Col Imran told the judge that most of the information about the missing people cannot be revealed. Justice Javed Iqbal told Col Imran that any sensitive information can be revealed in his chamber and assured the families that legal action would be taken.
About Imran Munir, the report disclosed that he is in military’s detention on charges of spying for a foreign country.



Imran Munir, 35 has been missing since July 8th, 2006. According to his sister, he was invited by Brig Mansoor over dinner in Blue Area, Islamabad. He never returned home since then. Imran Munir was settled in Malaysia and was on a visit to Pakistan for 2 weeks.



His family was nether informed about his detention and nor about charges against him. After the Supreme Court’s directions on last hearing on April 27, his whereabouts were made public during hearing on Friday.



The Supreme Court directed the NCMC to furnish the charge sheet against Imran Munir and also make the arrangements for Imran’s meeting with his family.



About Attiqur Rehman, the DAG told the court, “He is untraceable.” Whereas Attiq’s lawyer, Ikram Chaudhry, told the bench that DIG and SP Abbottabad had told his client’s family members that he had been picked up by the agencies.



Justice Javed Iqbal summoned IG NWFP and SP Abbotabad to appear beforwe the Supreme Court on the next hearing on May 11, 2007.
About Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the concise report presented by the National Crisis Management cell, revealed, “He is engaged in jihadi activities somewhere in Punjab.”



Qari Saifullah’s lawyer, Hashmat Habib told the bench that government is aware of the whereabouts of Qari Saifullah since he was handed over to the Pakistani government by the UAE authorities on August 8, 2004. He substantiated his statement by narrating NCMC’s Director General Javed Iqbal Cheema’s interview to a newspaper on August 9, 2004; saying, “Qari Saifullah is in custody of law enforcement agencies and Pakistani agencies are interrogating him.”



The then Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid’s statements given in August 2004 also confirmed that Qari Saifullah was in government’s detention.
After listening to the arguments given by both the sides, Justice Javed Iqbal ordered that a specific report about Qari Saifullah be furnished in the next hearing.



According to the NCMC, Naeem Noor Khan is also not traceable, whereas in August 2004, government owned his arrest. The then Information Minister Sheikh Rashid, the then Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and the then DG ISPR Shaukat Sultan confirmed Naeem Noor Khan’s arrest in a press conference addressed in August 2004.



Over Supreme Court’s instructions given on the last hearing, the Interior Ministry had appointed Col Javed Iqbal Lodhi as deputy secretary to be accessible to the families of the missing people and arrange their meetings with the detainees and also obtain necessary information regarding missing people.



Justice Javed Iqbal further ordered to advertise deputy secretary’s telephone numbers so that people in all corners could contact him. The bench also directed the Deputy Attorney General to make meeting arrangements of Qari Obaidullah with his family. Qari Obaidullah was arrested from his house in Multan on November 26, 2007 by elite force accompanied by the people in civilian clothes.



Qari Obaidullah’s wife had also filed a petition in Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench and the Deputy Attorney General, while appearing in the court had stated, “Obaidullah was in the custody of the Armed Forces of Pakistan and was required in connection with a case under Section 2(d) of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.”



But the armed forces did not inform Qari Obaidullah’s family about his detention and they have not met him since his arrest in 2003.



All the families of missing people expressed their fears before the bench that their loved ones could also be meted out the same treatment as Saud Memon was subjected to.



Justice Javed Iqbal also ordered the Deputy Attorney General to inform the court about Muhammad Idrees Abbasi’s whereabouts on the next hearing on May 11, 2007; and present a concise report before the apex court. He also directed the DAG to remain in touch with NCMC and furnish a report on the efforts made by the FIA, police and other law enforcement agencies.