Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Monday ordered a top official of the country`s spy agency ISI to appear before it in connection with a `forced disappearance` case, days after the apex court directed military intelligence agencies to produce seven men reportedly detained without due process.

Justice Anwarul Haq Qureshi of Islamabad High Court ordered the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha to ensure the presence of an army officer identified only as Major Tariq before him at the next hearing on March 14 in connection with a "missing persons" case.
The order was issued in connection with the case of two doctors - Abdul Qayyum and Abdul Wahid - who were reportedly detained due to their alleged association with a banned group. Relatives of the doctors filed a petition in the High Court in which they said the two men went missing in Rahim Yar Khan area of Punjab in August last year.

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Major Tariq, reportedly serving with the ISI, had allegedly detained the two men in the intelligence agency`s office at Sector G-9 in Islamabad, the petition said.

The Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court are currently hearing cases related to "missing persons" - an euphemism for persons detained without charge or arrested without due process by intelligence and security agencies.

Rights groups like Human Rights Watch have said that intelligence agencies are responsible for these detentions, particularly in Balochistan province.

In a recent case, the Supreme Court forced the ISI and Military Intelligence to produce seven men who were detained since 2010.

An unnamed security official told state-run APP news agency that the men were detained because there was evidence that they were linked to several high-profile terrorist attacks. PTI