From Rezaul H Laskar Islamabad, Feb 13 (PTI) Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agencies, facing an unprecedented pressure from the Supreme Court, today produced seven prisoners who were reportedly arrested without due process last year. The seven men, their faces covered with blankets and unable to walk without assistance, were presented before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. This was the first time they were seen in public since they were reportedly detained by the intelligence agencies in May 2010. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence reportedly handed over the men to the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province recently after the Supreme Court took up their case. Four of the men were being held in Peshawar and three in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal region near the Afghan border. Four others who were detained with these seven men have died in mysterious circumstances over the past six months. Relatives of the four dead men have said their bodies bore marks of torture and abuse. Chief Justice Chaudhry ordered authorities to form a medical board to conduct a detailed examination of the seven men. He also directed the ISI and Military Intelligence to submit a report with details about their detention and the law under which they were held at the next hearing on March 1. "There should be proper medical treatment and they shall not be shifted to the internment centre in Parachinar so long as the matter is pending in court," Chaudhry said. (MORE) PTI RHL
