ISLAMABAD: A non-governmental organisation associated with Lal Masjid on Monday challenged the legality of the ongoing operation launched by law enforcement agencies against terrorism suspects.

The Shuhada Foundation Trust, through Advocate Tariq Asad, filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the crackdown on terrorists, their facilitators and suspected hideouts.

It said the law does not permit such operations. The petition cited the secretaries of defence and interior ministries as respondents.

It said on February 13, 2017, a terrorist attack in front of the Punjab Assembly in Lahore left 15 people, including top police officials, dead.

Shuhada Foundation approaches IHC seeking list of people killed in operation launched after the recent wave of terrorism

Jamaatul Ahrar, a faction of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed the responsibility.

“According to Pakistani authorities, the attack was orchestrated from Afghanistan where the militant group operated its sanctuaries,” the petition said.

On Feb 16, terrorists targeted the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the Sehwan town of Sindh, in which 88 people, including women and children, were killed.

The petition said that according to a press release issued by the director general Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shortly after the suicide bombing at the shrine, over 100 terrorists were gunned down on February 17 across the country, including Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ISPR said security forces had been given special orders to have strict watch all along the border.

Afghan authorities have been given a list of 76 terrorists who are hiding across the border and planning, directing, supporting terrorist activities in Pakistan.

The Afghan government has been asked to take action or hand the terror suspects over to Pakistan. It said terrorist hideouts on the Pakistan-Afghan border had been effectively targeted.

Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the army was to provide security to the people of Pakistan against all types of threat, the petition added.

It said the ISPR press release also revealed that the federal government as well as the director general ISPR had placed the responsibility of the above mentioned attacks and terrorist activities on the Afghan government.

On the other hand, the army claimed to have killed 100 terrorists in the crackdown in different areas and arrested a large number of suspected people.

It said the Milli Yekjehti Council protested the killing of the over 100 people in an unlawful manner, adding Allama Ameen Shaheedi, Luqman Qazi and other religious leaders at a press conference also asked if the over 100 people killed during the operation had been captured within a single day.

The petition said the government had failed to protect the lives of the citizens due to its flawed foreign policy, adding the respondent authorities had no legal right to capture Pakistani citizens without due process of law and kill them in violation of their fundamental right to life and liberty guaranteed to them under Article 9 of the Constitution.

The petition requested the court to direct the respondent authorities to provide a list of those killed and apprehended during the operations launched after the recent wave of terrorism.

It said the respondent authorities should also be restrained from arresting citizens in violation of the law.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017