PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday stayed execution of a convicted militant and suspended the sentence of death awarded to him by a military court on account of multiple charges of terrorism.

The bench comprising Justice Rooul Amin Khan Chamkani and Justice Daud Khan issued notice to the ministry of defence directing it to submit record of the case of the convict, Abbdul Qayyum, whose father Mian Said Ghani has filed a writ petition against his conviction.

The bench also directed a deputy attorney general, Manzoor Khalil, and some counsels appearing in other cases related to conviction by military courts to prepare arguments on the point whether the counsel representing the convicts before the high court were entitled to go through the relevant record of the military courts which had conducted trials in these cases.

The bench extended stay order regarding suspension of sentences to three other convicts who were also awarded death penalties by the military courts on different charges. Those three convicts are: Mohammad Tayyab, Azizur Rehman and Mohammad Ayaz.

Seeks record of trial from defence ministry

Advocate Naveed Akhter appeared for the petitioner Said Ghani and contended that the petitioner’s son Abdul Qayyum was taken into custody by the security forces in swat on May 5, 2010. He stated that the detainee remained missing for many years and finally he was traced in custody of security forces.

He stated that the family members were informed that the detainee was facing charges of being involved in a suicide blast which took place at Waliabad in Swat. He added that in the said case an anti-terrorism court had been conducting trial against another accused person who was already granted bail by the court.

He stated that the petitioner was informed in the past by the security forces that his son was placed in the category “white” which meant that he was found innocent. He added that on Jul 14 the family came to know through media reports that the detainee was awarded death penalty by the military court.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), media wing of Pakistan Army, had claimed in a press release on July 14 that Abdul Qayyum was an active member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. It was stated that he was involved in slaughter of officers and soldiers and had destroyed a girl’s primary school and a basic health unit by planting explosives. He was tried on four charges and awarded death sentence.

The convictions of the other three convicts whose cases were fixed on Tuesday were also made public on July 14 by the ISPR.

Advocates Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik and Arif Jan appeared for the petitioners in those cases and contended that they were not provided a fair trial which was mandatory under the Constitution. They also requested that they should be provided opportunity to go through the record of the trials conducted by the military court.

A deputy attorney general Manzoor Khalil argued that the petitioners’ counsels were not entitled to see the record as it pertains to sensitive issues. He stated that the court could examine the said record but not the counsels appearing for the convicts.

The petitioners’ counsels argued that the Supreme Court had permitted the concerned advocates to examine the said record.

The bench directed both the parties to prepare their case on the said point in the light of orders of the apex court.

The DAG also requested the bench to declare the proceedings in the said cases as in camera and the media may not be allowed to report the proceedings. However, the bench observed how they could declare it in camera when the proceedings were conducted in open court.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016