Pakistan CJ orders release of people detained by intelligence authorities

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's government must release dozens of people whom intelligence authorities detained for their alleged links with militants, the country's newly reinstated chief justice said Tuesday.

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's ruling in the Supreme Court comes amid increasing pressure from human right groups and relatives of scores of people who went missing after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

These people have been detained without charge, Chaudhry said, adding that the government must either charge them and try them according to Pakistani law, or set them free.

"It has been established that these people are in the custody of (spy) agencies," Chaudhry told deputy attorney general Naheeda Mahboob Elahi, who has said the government is trying to locate the detainees.

"Choose a respectable way and release all the missing persons," Chaudhry said. "We have overwhelming evidence that people are in your custody."

The court took up the cases of such illegal detainees late last year after relatives of a dozen people came forward, demanding the release of dozens of men believed to have been snatched by Pakistani intelligence agencies in a crackdown on suspected militants.

The government initially expressed ignorance about the detainees but, under pressure from Chaudhry, it began to release the missing people and promised that the others would be traced and freed. According to court records, at least 100 people are still being held. He adjourned the hearing until Sept. 21.

Islamabad, Wednesday, AP