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Published 12 Jan, 2012 12:01am

Missing brothers case: PHC seeks comments from scouts commandant

PESHAWAR, Jan 11: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday sought comments of the commandant of Mehsud Scouts on the alleged illegal detention of two brothers from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency for the last more than a year and asked deputy attorney general Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand to submit them to it on the next hearing into the habeas corpus petition on January 31.

The bench consisting of Justice Miftauddin Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk was hearing the petition filed by a woman Shan Bibi, who claims her two sons, Nazeem and Ijaz, were taken away by security forces from a government school in Lal Jan Kalae area on January 7, 2011 and that their whereabouts had been unknown since.

According to Aurangzeb Khan, counsel for the petitioner, agency education officer Hashim Khan stated on oath before the court on October13,2011 that the two boys aged around 11 years were taken away from their school by personnel of security forces. And the court had warned that if boys were not traced, then criminal proceedings would be initiated against the relevant officials.

DAG Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand lat-er submitted a reply to the court on behalf of the defence ministry. The reply stated that the boys were not in the custody of secret agencies operating under the ministry.

The petitioner's lawyer said a missing person informed his family after being freed by captors that he had seen the two boys at a 'safe house' of an intelligence agency.

He sought the court's permission for producing the said person. The court granted him the permission to do so.

Meanwhile, another bench consisting of Justice Attaullah Khan and Justice Azmatullah Malik asked a lawyer to consult his client for filing a petition against the illegal detention of her son with a commission looking into such cases.

Lawyer Asthagfirullah Khan said since the security agencies hadn't been caring about the superior courts, then it shouldn't be expected from them that they would provide information to the said commission.

The petition is filed by Gul Naz, a resident of Nowshera, who said her son, Kamran, was taken into custody by plainclothesmen on January 26, 2010, in Badrashi area of Nowshera district.

Joint secretary interior ministry Khushdil Khan expressed ignoranceabout the whereabouts of the missing person and said it would be appropriate for the petitioner to move the commission on missing persons.

The defence ministry earlier expressed ignorance about the said detainee. Thereafter, an FIR was registered by the relevant police station in Nowshera against his disappearance on the high court orders.

Also, the bench put off hearing into a petition filed by the brother of a missing person after the interior ministry expressed ignorance about his whereabouts.

The petitioner, Abdul Ghani, said his brother Abdul Wali was taken into custody by SHO Bhadabber police station Bahadur Khan around two years ago and since then, he had been missing. Police had already denied the arrest.

The court also adjourned hearing in another petition filed by Redi Gul, father of a missing cabbie, Sanam Gul, with the directions to the DAG to contact the relevant authorities for tracing him out.

He claimed that his son was taken into custody in the jurisdiction of Hayatabad police station around three years ago by the law-enforcement agencies and that he had been missing ever since.

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