PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday observed that on paper, notified internment centres were looked after by officers of the provincial government but practically, they were run by the Pakistan Army, an act against the basic concept of the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation, 2011.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan observed that the Pakistan Army was called in aid of civil power under the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation 2011 and that it was supposed to work under the local authority and not to run the local authority.

The bench made the observations while hearing around 300 habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of ‘missing persons’.

In accordance with an earlier order of the court, additional advocate general Waqar Ahmad produced a report on internment centres saying currently, eight internment centres are operational, including five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Observes army men called in aid supposed to work under local authority

He said such centres had around 708 people, including 644 in the province and 64 in Fata.

The AAG said internees in question included 55 people, who were shifted to the centres lately.

The bench expressed dissatisfaction at the report and observed that the court had also ordered production of the report of the relevant oversight boards but that hadn’t been produced yet.

It directed the AAG to produce the reports of the said boards within 15 days.

The bench also ordered production of the details of when internees were shifted to internment centres, and the update on their cases.

It later adjourned hearing into the cases about internment centres until June 26.

During the hearing, the bench came across one of the oldest petitions pending decision for around five years.

The petition was filed by Mohammad Idress against the alleged illegal detention of father Haji Abdullah Gul and brother Mohammad Ismail.

The petitioner informed the bench that he had learned that his father was kept at a notified internment centre set up at Pak-Austrian Institute for Tourism and Hotel Management in Swat.

The second detainee was freed in 2012.

The petitioner requested the bench to allow the right to meet his father at the centre.

He said a letter was sent from the office of the commissioner of Internment centres run by army, not govt: PHC Malakand region to the Headquarters 17 of Div Operation Area, Swat, which was looking after PAITHAM, for allowing meeting with the internee but the relevant army officer had turned down his request.

The petitioner also produced a copy of the said letter sent on Mar 3, 2014.

The bench expressed displeasure at the development observing that in an earlier statement given at the bar by a representative of the defence ministry, Major Mohammad Ali, the bench was told that that the Pakistan Army was providing only the outer security to internment centres.

Major Mohammad Ali, who was in attendance on Tuesday, said he would confirm the situation. The bench inquired from him why he had given a misstatement before the court.

The bench observed that copy of the said letter reflected that all the internment centres were run by Pakistan Army which was against the very concept of the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation 2011.

The bench directed Major Mohammad Ali to convey to the relevant officer to allow meeting of the petitioner with his father.

It also directed him to submit report as to why these centres had been supervised by the Army instead of the civil administration.

Moreover, in several cases of missing persons, the bench issued directives to the defence and interior ministries and the provincial home department to produce replies and try to trace detainees.

It also directed the relevant authorities to check the detainees’ whereabouts with intelligence agencies, including Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence.

The missing persons’ relatives, including women and elderly people, turned up in large numbers.

Several of them burst into tears before the court explaining their almost identical ordeal.

Several officials, including additional advocates general Waqar Ahmad and Mian Arshad Jan, appeared for the provincial government and deputy attorney general Manzoor Khalil for the federal government.

Officials of the relevant police stations were in attendance.

Widow Mohajira Bibi informed the bench that her son, Ismail, was arrested for terrorism in Oct 2009 and was free on the order of a court.

She, however, said her son was later taken away by intelligence agencies and since then, he had been missing.

Several detainees, whose cases are being heard by the court, have been missing for four to five years.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2014