Petitions unnecessarily delayed as oversight boards fail to submit reports

PHC has repeatedly sought reports on detainees from FATA, K-P govt officials.

PESHAWAR:

For the court, a major hurdle in the swift disposal of petitions of enforced disappearances is the failure of oversight boards in submitting reports on each missing person detained at notified internment centres. 

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has repeatedly directed both provincial government officials and officials of tribal areas to submit reports prepared by oversight boards which include detainee’s details, family background, the date of arrest, charges, duration of detention and progress of the investigation. However, officials have failed to submit these reports in court.

At a previous hearing, the government claimed it would submit an internment centre-wise report prepared by the oversight boards in a few days, but it has been delaying the submission.

Court instructions

While hearing a petition on September 18, PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel directed the inspector general of the Frontier Corps to produce the complete record of a previously missing person who is currently detained at an internment centre in Bara, Khyber Agency.

According to petitioner Fazal Karim, his son Yahya was allegedly picked by security forces from Alam Gudar, Bara, on September 15, 2011. Karim told the court that Yahya’s whereabouts remained unknown for some time, and the family was subsequently told that he was detained at Fort Slop in Bara.

Similarly, on April 17, Justice Miankhel ordered the government to provide a detailed list of how many people were being kept in internment centres, as well the number of detainees whose cases are pending before the court. The government was also told to prepare a list of people who have gone missing and are not in the custody of security agencies, the list of people who have died in custody as well as information on those who have been set free.

Thus far, the provincial government has submitted four reports in the high court containing names of missing persons who have been traced to various internment centres.

According to a list submitted on May 29, 708 people have been traced to centres in K-P and Fata, while a second report submitted on June 24 added 130 more to the total number of detainees.

A third report submitted on September 4 identified 96 other detainees and the fourth report submitted on September 11 traced 42 more. According to the government, 20 previously missing persons wanted in different criminal cases have been handed over to the police and political administrations.

However, there is no let-up in the registration of new cases of enforced disappearances being brought to the high court. Families of people who have been missing for years see the court as their only hope of finally reuniting with their loved ones.

According to the law

Following the enactment of the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011, the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs Department issued a notification on July 20, 2011 notifying internment centres in the province where detainees should be kept. These include sub-jail Paitham, Swat; sub-jail Fizagat, Swat; sub-jail Malakand as well as district jails Lakki Marwat, Kohat and Timergara, Lower Dir, and Frontier Corps forts at Drosh in Chitral, and Chakdara and Timergara in Lower Dir. Around 34 internment centres were later notified in another notification issued by the FATA additional chief secretary.

Section 8 of Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011 states the governor or any officer authorised by the regulation may issue an order of internment, while Section 14 states the governor shall notify a four-member oversight board for each internment centre. The board comprising two civilians and two military officers are required to review the case of each person interned at their relevant canter within a period of 120 days from the issuance of the order of internment. The board is required to prepare a report for consideration of the governor.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2014.