Recently, a young man, Mir Mohammad Arshid, turned up before the Peshawar High Court when he was set free after remaining in captivity of an intelligence agency for over three years. Mr Arshid informed a PHC bench that he was interrogated for three days only at a basement by officials in plainclothes following which they never put any query to him and sometimes he wondered why he had been kept there. During these years his family members continued search for him but could not trace him.

When the former detainee informed the court that during his captivity his mother passed away as she could not stand his disappearance, the two judges on the bench, including Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, were left speechless for a while. Mr Arshid is a sanitary fitter and ran a small shop at Rethi Bazaar in Peshawar. He alleged that while he was passing through Hasthnagri Bazaar on Jan 10, 2009, the SHO of the nearby police station took him into custody and handed him over to personnel of an intelligence agency.

The bench had shown resentment over Mr Arshid’s case and asked “Who will compensate him and his family who have gone through agony for 38 months is a big question mark for the army leadership?”

The bench observed that instead of taking action it would leave the matter to the ISI DG and the GHQ to form a team of inquiry to check activities of the ISI and other agencies.

“This court expects Pak Army, which has rendered great sacrifices for this country, to step into this matter quickly to regain what they have lost due to illegal acts of agencies.”

During Mr Arshid’s absence his family members had filed a petition before the PHC and all the state agencies had expressed ignorance concerning his whereabouts. At least he has the courage to appear before the court after his release. In another recent case when a bench asked a person to produce his released son, the man replied whether the judges wanted his son should be picked again.

Looking at these developments the court has decided to summon several high-ups to find a way out. The court has fixed May 16 for hearing several cases of missing persons and has summoned the federal interior secretary, provincial home secretary and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police officer. The chief justice has also hinted in one of the proceedings that a full bench might be constituted for hearing these cases.

The court had been expressing concern over illegal support provided by officials of police and prison departments to the agencies. In several cases, it was alleged that the detainee was arrested by police and handed over to intelligence agencies. However, when the concerned police officials were summoned they stated on oath that they had never arrested the detainee. Relatives of several “missing persons” had told police officials in their presence that they were the ones who had picked their near ones in front of many witnesses.

Normally, after receiving a habeas corpus petition the court issues notices to the concerned respondents, including police and agencies. Such petitions continue to linger on for months as it is a long process for the deputy attorney general to contact the ministries of defence and interior to ascertain whether the detainee is in custody of any agency functioning under their supervision.

Several cases have surfaced wherein the agencies and security forces had denied having a detainee and later on he had surfaced in a notified internment centre. When the two Action (in aid of civil power) Regulations for Fata and Pata were promulgated last year it was believed that after setting up internment centres the issue of missing persons would be resolved. However, the number of cases coming up to the high court has increased.

Of late the PHC is trying to convince the police and other institutions to stop illegal support to intelligence agencies.

The court has also summoned the inspector general of prisons of the province on May 10 as in several cases it became evident that officials of certain prisons had informed agencies when certain prisoners were released.

One thing is evident that the high court has now been seriously tackling this issue and wants to resolve it one way or the other. It is now responsibility of the government and intelligence agencies to devise a way out in this issue as habeas corpus petitions have been consuming precious time of the court.