Prisoners abroad: LHC seeks names of all Pakistani detainees at Bagram

‘There is a need to transfer all Pakistani citizens detained in Bagram before the US pull-out’.

LAHORE:

Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit a list of all Pakistani citizens detained at Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

The judge issued the order on a petition by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a non-profit organisation, seeking release of Pakistani citizens from Bagram.

The judge adjourned the hearing till April 2. He expressed dissatisfaction with the ministry’s reply.

JPP’s counsel Sarah Bilal said the ministry’s reply did not include names of Pakistani citizens due to be released in the next tranche of releases.

She told the court that the list of the previous tranche of Pakistanis released was released one year earlier.

The ministry, in its reply, had said it did not yet have a final schedule for future releases agreed with US authorities.

The ministry agreed there was a need to transfer all Pakistani citizens detained in Bagram to Pakistan before the US pullout from Afghanistan.

Justice Khan called the ministry’s response unsatisfactory and remarked that it was the duty of the ministry’s state counsel to protect rights of Pakistani citizens abroad.

He directed the ministry to submit an updated list of all Pakistani citizens detained at the Bagram prison.

The JPP has sought directions for release and return of 25 Pakistani citizens detained at Bagram by the US. It says Pakistani citizens have been detained at Bagram without charge or trial since 2003.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2014.