‘Terror Watch List’: 25 Sipah-i-Sahaba men free to move

LHC directed the Home Department not to restrict the movement of 25 activists of Sipah-i-Sahaba

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court headed by its chief justice on Monday directed the Home Department not to restrict the movement of 25 activists of Sipah-i-Sahaba and remove their names from their watch list. The court ruled that there was no recent evidence that the petitioners were involved in suspicious activities. The petitioners, including Sipah-i-Sahaba leader Abid Akram, submitted that they had been exonerated in all criminal cases but the Home Department had still put them on its ‘terror watchlist’. They said they were not allowed to travel beyond the jurisdiction of their local police station without police permission. The court expressed dissatisfaction at the Home Department’s reply to the petition, presented in court on Monday, saying it did not mention any new evidence. The court then ordered the Home Department to remove the petitioners from the watch list.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2011.