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ISLAMABAD: An oversight board set up under the Actions (In Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011 for Fata has said in its report that seven of the 11 surviving prisoners, who went missing from outside the Adiyala Jail and were produced before the Supreme Court last month, have validly been detained in Peshawar’s internment centre for their involvement in sabotage and terrorism activities.
The report on the missing prisoners’ case, submitted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir to the Supreme Court and available with Dawn, said the internees were accused of having criminal background, sabotage training and affiliation with terrorist groups.
The Actions Regulation 2011 gives the military sweeping powers to detain anyone for an indefinite period during counter-terrorism operations in Fata.
The prisoners, Dr Niaz Ahmed, Mazharul Haq, Shafiqur Rehman, Abdul Basit, Abdus Saboor, Abdul Majid, Muhammad Amir Khan, Muhammad Shafique aka Maaz, Tehseenullah, Said Arab aka Tariq, Gul Roze Khan aka Farman, mysteriously went missing from outside the jail on May 29, 2010, the day they had been acquitted of terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in Oct 2009 attacks on GHQ and ISI’s Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi. Four of them —Amir, Saboor, Said Arab and Tehseenullah — have died in custody.
The rest of the seven suspects were produced before the apex court on Feb 13 in a very bad shape in compliance with an earlier order on a petition of Ms Ruhaifa, mother of civilians Abdus Saboor (dead), Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid.
Ms Ruhaifa died of heart attack hours after seeing her two ailing sons at the Supreme Court.
According to the oversight board, the detainees were arrested by the ISI’s field operators on Nov 25, 2010, in Lawara Mela area of Orakzai Agency. They are also facing charges of attacking a convoy of II Wing Dir Scouts in Srmalo Mela (Fata). They were carrying explosives, Kalashnikovs, magazines and hand-grenades.
But almost all of them told Dawn after the Feb 13 court hearing that they still had no idea why they had been kept in detention as they had never been interrogated or charged with any crime.
The board said Mazharul Haq was a highly-trained person having the ability to launch attacks on sensitive military and civilian installations. He was carrying two suicide jackets at the time of arrest. He also fought with the Al-Badar group in Khost, Afghanistan, and underwent training in Wana, South Waziristan.
The report claimed that the internee also visited Haqqani Madressah in Miramshah in Oct 2010 and was the main planner of the GHQ and Hamza Camp attacks.
The report said Shafiqur Rehman had been trained by Harkatul Mujahideen in 1999. He joined the Haqqani group in Miramshah in 2007 to fight against security forces in Fata. According to the report, he confessed to have taken Rs80,000 from Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone attack, as expenses for carrying a suicide bomber from Makin to Rawalpindi. He was also running terrorist groups and networks.
About Mohammad Shafique, the report said he had got training in Miramshah for 20 days, along with 10 other students. He went to Paktia and stayed there for 50 days during which he ambushed a convoy and destroyed two vehicles.
Shafique joined the Haqqani group after return from Paktia and attacked government and military installations.
The oversight board said Dr Niaz Ahmed belonged to the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) group and allegedly was the mastermind of attacks on the Hamza Camp and the GHQ. He visited the Haqqani Madressah in Miramshah in Oct 2010. “He is an educated person and has the ability to influence other persons to carry out terrorist activities in the name of ‘Jihad’. He is capable of running terrorist groups and networks,” the report said.
According to the board, Gul Roze got training for a month, along with Maulvi Nazir, a North Waziristan-based militant commander.
Abdul Basit and Abdul Majid were religiously motivated and targeted a military convoy, the report claimed.
The report concluded that the proceedings against all the interned persons were in conformity with Section 9 of the regulation.
