ISLAMABAD: An FIR has finally been registered against some petty military officers at the Malakand police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on behalf of Defence Minister KhawajaMuhammad Asif.

KP Advocate General Abdul Latif Yousufzai informed a threejudge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja on Friday about the development and submitted a copy of the FIR.

The FIR No 11 of 2014 registered on Thursday implicates Naib Subedar Amanullah and others posted at the Army Fort Malakand under Section 346 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the charge of removing 35 internees from theMalakand internment centre. The section deals with wrongful confinement in a secret place.

`The lodging of FIR by none other than the defence minister against the army officers is an unprecedented development having serious ramifications and international consequence since nothing parallel has ever happened in this globe,` commented Advocate Raja Muhammad Irshad, who has represented intelligence agencies in the Supreme Court on several occasions. The court had taken up a case about a missing man, Yasin Shah, initiated on an application filed by his brother Muhabbat Shah.

In its Dec 10 verdict, the court had held that the army authorities were responsible for removing the internees from the Malakand internment centre. The court had since repeatedly warned of issuing contempt notices to the prime min-ister, along with the governor and the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, if its orders were not complied with.

On Friday, the court asked the federal and KP governments to ensure diligent and transparent investigations and said they were free to add whatever sections of the law required in the case. It said the government was also free to take any action needed in the interest of the state, but without breaching any of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

`At least the law has been set inmotion,` Justice Khawaja observed.

The law would now take its own course, he said.

A copy of the challan after completion of the investigation is required to be placed before the judges who will examine whether it was in accordance with the directives issued in the Dec 10 verdict.

The court ordered the government to speed up efforts to recover the unaccounted for persons in the list of 35 missing men.

The attorney general informed the court that retired Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal had beenappointed as a one-man commission to ascertain the whereabouts of the unaccounted for persons and determine whether any person had been detained or removed illegally.

The court ordered the government to submit a report of the commission in a month. It observed that there was no need for further intervention, especially when the federal and provincial law officers were overseeing the investigation. `The court intervenes only when the law officers argue that its order cannot be complied with,` the bench observed.The KP advocate general informed the court that the complaint of the defence minister had earlier been sent to the deputy commissioner concerned to examine and remove anomaly if any.

The attorney general said the government, if nee de d, might bring more amendments to the Protection of Pakistan Amendment Ordinance promulgated on Jan 22.

It regulates detention of a suspect involved in terrorism and waging war against the country.

The court adjourned the proceedings for three weeks.