Pak police registers case against top ISI and MI officials

Pakistani police have registered a case against the Directors General and Deputy Directors of the ISI and Military Intelligence on the charge of kidnapping a member of a banned group, according to a media report today.

This is first case in the country's history to be registered against senior military officers serving in intelligence agencies, The News daily reported. The case regarding the kidnapping of Hizb-ut-Tahrir spokesman Naveed Butt was registered by his wife Saadia Rahat at Liaquatabad police station in Lahore on June 26.

Though the FIR was sealed, a copy was obtained by Geo News channel, which like The News is part of the Jang media group. In the FIR, the Directors General and Deputy Directors of the ISI and Military Intelligence, based in Rawalpindi and Lahore, were named as the accused.

Ten to 15 unidentified persons allegedly kidnapped Butt from outside his house on May 11 and took him to an unknown place, the FIR said. Superintendent of Police Athar Waheed was removed from active duties and made an officer on special duty for registering the FIR, the report said.

The daily quoted police sources as saying that nobody got an inkling of the FIR and no copies were sent to any other office. Waheed is the same officer who had refused to arrest political workers in Gujranwala during the movement by lawyers and civil society activists to restore judges who were sacked in 2007 by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Waheed once had an altercation with security officials guarding former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani. According to Saadia Rahat, she had contacted Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman of the Islamabad High Court, who admonished police in Lahore and ordered them to recover Butt at the earliest.

Chief Justice Rehman also referred the case to Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who gave 15 days to police to recover Butt. This period will expire on August 10. Butt is yet to be traced.