ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Friday summoned senior officials from the country’s spy agencies, along with top defense and interior ministry officials, in a case related to the recovery of a missing Kashmiri poet, Ahmad Farhad.
The alleged abduction of the poet from his Islamabad residence last week brought the Islamabad High Court (IHC) face to face with the executive, following Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani’s critical remarks about the conduct of these agencies.
This happened after the poet’s family accused Pakistan’s top spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of abducting Farhad due to his critical social media posts targeting the army. The Pakistan military has not commented on the claims and has always denied suppressing dissident voices.
The high court had directed the authorities in the previous hearing to produce the missing poet by today, Friday, warning it would otherwise summon senior government functionaries. The court also criticized Pakistani intelligence agencies, which have frequently faced such allegations in the past, prompting the law minister to say on Monday the court’s comments were “shocking.”
“All relevant people, including the law minister, secretary of the interior, secretary of defense, sector commander of ISI, sector commander of MI [Military Intelligence], and director of IB [Intelligence Bureau], are ordered to appear in court at the next hearing,” an eight-page court order written in Urdu proclaimed.
The court deferred the hearing until May 29, saying if the missing person was recovered before that, a written report should be submitted.
The court also demanded to know about the accountability mechanism within the agencies that activates when officials are found involved in illegal activities.
“In the last year, if officials from ISI, IB and MI were found involved in illegal detention, blackmailing, phone tapping or harassment of any person, what action was initiated against them and how many officers were given punishment,” it asked.
In one of the previous hearings, Justice Kayani also ordered the Islamabad Police to record the ISI sector commander’s statement in the missing person’s case.
“Now, the ISI sector commander’s statement will be recorded in the missing person’s case. A police officer will record his statement and write it,” the judge ordered.
He also asked if there was any precedent where an intelligence officer was prosecuted in the past.
“This immunity that has been granted must come to an end,” he continued.
