PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ordered the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to trace a former internee of Lakki Marwat internment centre recently convicted and sentenced to death by a military court and to arrange his meeting with family members.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaisar adjourned to Oct 22 the hearing into Mohammad Azam’s petition that his two sons kept at Lakki Marwat internment centre, Obaidullah and Mulazim Hussain, should be dealt with in accordance with the law.

When the bench began hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Arif Jan, said Obaidullah and Mulazim were taken into custody by security forces in 2012 and 2011, respectively, against which a habeas corpus petition was filed in the high court.

He added that later on, both the detainees were traced in Lakki Marwat internment centre prompting the disposal of the petition.

He said early this year, the petition was filed by Azam Khan with the prayer that the relevant authorities be directed to deal with the detainees in accordance with the provisions of the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation 2011.

Asks federal, provincial govts to arrange his meeting with family

The lawyer said during pendency of the petition, the petitioner came to know on Sept 22 through newspapers that one of his sons, Obaidullah, had been tried and convicted by a military court on charges of terrorism and was sentenced to death.

He added that the whereabouts of the detainee had not been known and that family members had also not been allowed to meet him.

The bench observed that following this latest development, the petition had become infructuous to the extent of detention of Obaidullah. However, the bench observed that it was the right of the petitioner to meet his son after conviction.

The bench directed deputy attorney general Manzoor Khalil and additional advocate general Qaisar Ali Shah to convey to the relevant officials to trace Obaidullah.

It also directed them to submit detail report about the other detainee, Mulazim Hussain, as to what progress had taken place in his case.

Meanwhile, the bench once again expressed annoyance over delay in submitting comments by different officials in cases of missing persons and summoned the secretaries of defence and interior and provincial chief secretary asking them to appear on Oct 21 and explain the inordinate delay on part of the officials subordinate to them.

When the bench took up for hearing a case pertaining to alleged illegal detention of Jandood, it was informed that so far, different departments had not filed replies to the petition to provide details regarding his whereabouts.

The chief justice observed that for the last nine months, the court had been seeking comments but the concerned officials failed to provide details whether the detainee was in custody of any of the agency or not.

A relative of the petitioner said they had heard that the detainee was kept at Lakki Marwat internment centre but so far there was no official confirmation of this fact.

The AAG said in light of directives issued by the high court the provincial home secretary had on Jun 17, 2015, sent letters to all the divisional commissioners, heads of internment centres in his jurisdiction and other relevant officials to provide information about the cases pending before the high court.

The bench observed that the directives issued by the court had not been taken seriously by the concerned quarters.

It also addressed additional attorney general Syed Attique Shah and observed that for the last nine months, the officials hadn’t bothered to submit replies.

“In such like circumstances, how the court could proceed further in these cases,” the chief justice observed.

Syed Attique Shah said the attorney general’s office had already written to all departments to fully comply with court orders and to submit their respective replies in cases of missing persons.

In several other cases, the same situation had emerged as replies had not been filed. The bench also directed that the commissioners of Kohat, Bannu and Malakand should also appear on next date and explain the situation in the internments centres falling in their jurisdiction.

Moreover, the court ordered attachment of salaries of the relevant officials over failure to file comments about a case of detainee Shahazada since Jan 2015 despite orders.

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

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