Court to hear case of missing persons

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court will Wednesday take up petitions filed by families of six army officers who have been reported missing since 2004 and are allegedly in the custody of intelligence agencies.
The families of Col Khalid Mahmud Abbasi, Lt Col Abdul Ghaffar, Maj Rohail Faraz, Maj Adil Quddus, Maj Attaullah and Capt Usman Zafar say the officers went missing Sep 27, 2004. A petition by Sadia Bhatti, wife of civilian Sarwar Bhatti, would also be heard the same day. In a report, ‘Pakistan: The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan’, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has asked Pakistan to produce all detainees in court, release all political prisoners and to immediately end the political role of intelligence agencies, military and the civil bureaucracy. The ICG also urged Islamabad to withdraw travel restrictions - internal and external - on Baloch opposition leaders and activists and stop intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and extra-judicial killings. —Agencies