PESHAWAR: A division bench of Peshawar High Court on Tuesday summoned some members of a local Jirga, who had allegedly handed over a man and his minor son to the security forces in Swat in 2009 following which they went been missing.

The bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Mohammad Daud Khan fixed July 13 for next hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by a woman, Jan Saba, against the alleged illegal detention of her husband, Mohammad Khalil, and son Mohammad Nasir.

The bench was informed that the respondents including ministries of defence and interior had filed their replies and expressed ignorance regarding the whereabouts of the two detainees.

Both the ministries had stated that the detainees were not in custody of any of the intelligence agencies functioning under their supervision.

Petitioner says her husband, son handed over to army by local elders

The bench asked the petitioner that as all the agencies had expressed ignorance about the detainees, therefore, if she wished she could register an FIR at the police station.

The petitioner stated that she was a poor woman and used to receive loan from other people while visiting the court for proceedings in the case. She added that she was not having resources to pursue the case and the court may help her in tracing her missing family members.

She stated that members of a jirga comprising local notables including Malik Subhan, Rehmat Ali, Malik Rehmat and Sultane Roam had told them that the two detainees and another son Mohammad Saleem was required to the security forces.

The petitioner said that her husband and two sons were later handed over to Major Idrees of Pakistan Army in 2009 following which they had been missing. She added that her missing son Umer was only 15 at that time.

Ms Saba stated that her son Mohammad Saleem was later on traced in an internment centre at Fizzagut, Swat and had been placed in the category “Black”, which meant that security forces considered him a hardened militant.

The bench observed it would summon the jirga members so as to know their point of view on the issue.

Meanwhile, the bench set aside conviction of seven police officials by an anti- terrorism court in a case of kidnapping for ransom and remanded the case to a regular court for re-trial.

The seven officials of police station Khazana in Peshawar include Sheharyar, Shah Faisal, Fazal Manan, Sadarat Shah, Ismael, Farhad and Ahsanullah.

Advocate Shabir Hussain Gigyani appeared for the seven appellants and contended that they were tried for kidnapping a citizen named Ikhtiar Khan. He said that the anti-terrorism court had convicted the seven appellants and sentenced them to four years imprisonment each.

He argued that it was not a case of terrorism and the prosecution had erred in including sections of Anti-Terrorism Act in the case. He said that the appellants should have been tried by a regular court and not ATC. He added that the evidence on record did not show that the appellants had demanded ransom for kidnapping the said person.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016