PESHAWAR: In a press release here on Tuesday, spokesperson for Aftab Sherpao rubbished allegations that the former interior minister was responsible for giving up thousands of Pakistani citizens to foreign countries for possible connections with militant organisations.

The spokesperson further said that all records of the interior ministry can be checked if required to investigate the matter.

On Monday, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal alleged – during a briefing to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights – that 4000 individuals were handed to foreign countries during the Musharraf era. Justice Iqbal, who is both Chairman NAB and head of the missing persons’ commission, questioned why Parliament had failed to investigate illegal actions taken by the Musharraf government.

Justice (retd) Iqbal that Pakistani citizens were given away to the United States (US) in exchange for US dollars and that the interior minister at the time, Aftab Sherpao was also involved in the illegal activity.

In response to the accusations, Aftab Sherpao – in an interview with Voice of America – stated that he was dumbfounded by the allegations levelled against him by Justice (retd) Iqbal. Mr Sherpao who was the federal minister for the interior from 2004 to 2007, vehemently denounced all claims, assertingthat there had been no such handovers of Pakistani citizens to any outside government during the three years he was interior minister.

“Saying that 4000 people were given away under my watch is a huge claim,” said Mr Sherpao as he wondered how Justice (retd) Iqbal could make such astatement.

“I don’t understand where these numbers are coming from. These are serious accusations and all of them are false” said the former interior minister.

Musharraf admitted to handing Pakistanis to US

Military dictator Pervez Musharraf, who led the coup against the democratically elected government in 1999, has in the past accepted that Pakistani citizens were indeed given up to the US.

Musharraf claimed that 369 individuals among the hundreds arrested for alleged connections with militant organisations, were handed to the US in exchange for monetary awards.

There have been numerous allegations against the Musharraf administration for involving Pakistan too deeply in US wars.

Several analysts have pointed to the heavy prices the Pakistani nation has had to pay over the years.

The current foreign minister Asif Khawaja has also raised similar concerns and has frequently said thatthe mistakes of the Musharraf era would not be repeated.

Responding to questions on Musharraf’s role in the matter, Aftab Sherpao said that he was not the interior minister following the September 11 attacks in the US, and any questions concerning enforced disappearances immediately after should be directed at Musharraf, who was the Chief Executive of the government at the time.

“I have nothing to do with what Musharraf did. Our party was not in government back then and I was not the interior minister” said Mr Sherpao.

The former minister did, however, say that if Musharraf did hand over Pakistanis to the US, he must have done so after careful consideration.

Enforced disappearances have been a nagging issue for not only this government but also previous governments, who have had to deal with both domestic and international pressure questioning violation of human rights as well as the right to a fair trial.

The Supreme Court had constituted a commission for the inquiry of enforced disappearances in 2011 and had authorized Justice (retd) Iqbal to lead the investigations.

So far, according to the commission, 3219 cases out of 4929 have been solved.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018