ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has decided to prepare policy guidelines to control the operational role of intelligence agencies until the government enforces a law or the parliament legislates on the matter.

SC Justice Javed Iqbal said this on Friday while hearing the case of people reported missing by their relatives. He said it was not clear under which law the intelligence agencies lifted a person and which authority they reported to.

Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool said apart from “operation command channel”, the intelligence agencies were answerable to the government through the Defence Ministry and the armed forces. He did not explain the “operation command channel”.

Rasool said that 56 out of 148 people identified by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had been traced. “Of these traced people, 45 are at their homes, five in custody, three under trial and the remaining three are being detained under the Security of Pakistan Act (SPA),” he said, adding that the intelligence agencies lifted people on the suspicion of terrorism and under the SPA.

“It is a dilemma that we have yet to define the term ‘terrorism’ ... everything done wrong is dubbed as terrorism. All of this should be brought into the legal loop. The departments have an army of officers and employees ... why can’t they work seriously to trace the missing persons. This case is tarnishing Pakistan’s image internationally,” he observed.

The bench rejected a proposal by Farhatullah Babar and Fakharuddin G Ibrahim to form a commission to investigate the case. HRCP Chairwoman Asma Jahangir told the bench that the Frontier Constabulary (FC) had lifted nine-year old Asad Usman from Turbat for the arrest of his wanted brother, adding that Federal Minister Zubaida Jalal had confirmed his detention at FC headquarters. The bench ordered the Interior Ministry to ensure the release of the child and report back on Monday.

Advocate Ikram Chaudhry told the court that his client Atiqur Rehman had been lifted by intelligence agencies on the day of his wedding. He told the bench that the police had expressed helplessness in this regard.

Citing some passages from President Pervez Musharraf’s memoirs ‘In the Line of Fire’, lawyer Shaukat Siddiqui said that officials of the ministries were the instruments of regime of a president who had himself acknowledged that 689 persons were held during the war on terrorism and from amongst them, 369 persons had been handed over to the US for money.

Justice Iqbal said that the people handed to the US were foreign nationals and the SC was presently hearing a case relating to Pakistani detainees. Siddiqui said that if the government had handed over 369 foreign nationals to the US, where were the remaining persons who were Pakistanis.

A widow Zainab Khatoon told the court that her only child Faisal Faraz had been missing for the last several years. “I have knocked at all doors to know the whereabouts of my child, but to no avail. I will die if my son is not found. Just give me my son and I am ready to leave this country,” she said.

The petitioners’ lawyers pointed out the absence of Attorney General (AG) Makhdoom Ali Khan. Deputy Attorney General Chaudhry Afrasiab represented the AG at the proceedings. Interior Secretary Kamal Shah did not appear on medical grounds.

The bench consisting of justices Javed Iqbal and Mian Shakirullah Jan ordered the government to submit comprehensive replies in the cases of Faisal Fraz, Usman Munir, Atiqur Rehman, Qari Saifullah Akhtar and Naeem Noor Khan. It also sought report about the progress on the remaining cases of missing persons and adjourned the proceedings till Friday.