PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to respond to the petition of Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan for constituting a high-powered fact-finding committee to probe the alleged resettlement of militants in the country and the surge caused by it in terrorist activities in the country.

It also directed Mr Aimal’s lawyer Babar Khan Yousafzai to inform it whether the petition is maintainable and whether it has the jurisdiction to issue directives sought by the petitioner for the government.

The directions were issued by a bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan during a hearing into the petition that said the proposed committee should be given a specific time to complete the probe as most “facts” about the issue had already been acknowledged by the respondents.

He added that the fact-finding report should be made public.

Mr Aimal also sought the court’s orders for the respondents, including the federal and provincial governments, to stop the process of “resettling militants” on his native soil.

Advocate Babar Khan claimed that the last Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government and militants made a secret deal that led to the “resettlement” of the latter in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He added that the deal also caused the acts of terrorism to increase in the country.

The lawyer claimed that statements kept coming in from the office of the then prime minister, Imran Khan, and former special assistant to the chief minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif regarding the resettlement of trained militants from Afghanistan in Pakistan.

He claimed that the country’s president also confirmed his involvement in the grant of immunity to 102 terrorists and that was reported in the media as well.

During the hearing, the bench observed that the petitioner had been seeking a relief against multiple people, who had no longer been in the position, which they were occupying at that time.

Additional advocate general Danyal Chamkani contended that the petition was not maintainable.

He contended that the petitioner had been seeking a judicial inquiry, whose launch was the mandate of the federal and provincial governments and not the court’s.

Mr Chamkani pointed out that Imran Khan and Mahmood Khan had already completed their terms in office as the prime minister and chief minister, respectively.

He added that the then ISI director-general, Lt-General Faiz Hameed, had already retired.

Babar Yousafzai argued that action should be taken against the people responsible for the matter even if they had retired or were no longer in the respective offices.

He said that the petitioner along with his party’s leadership and workers had constantly opposed the policy related to the resettlement of militants in Pakistan.

The petitioner has claimed that the “process of relocation of militants” was not possible without the support of the former ISI chief.

The respondents in the petition are the country’s president, former prime minister Imran Khan, KP government through its chief secretary, former chief minister Mahmood Khan, former special assistant to the chief minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, former ISI DG retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed, and federal government through the interior minister.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024