Enforced disappearances: Khyber political admin directed to explain detention of two inmates

Court also seeks answers on whereabouts of Zareen Khan and Noor Muhammad

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the political administration of Khyber Agency to provide complete records on the detention of a professor of Government College Peshawar and his brother. The court has also sought a detailed report by the joint investigation team in this regard.

Iqbal Mohmand, counsel for Professor Qazi Muhammad Ayaz and Muhammad Riaz, told the PHC bench of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain that his clients were taken into custody from a Tableeghi Markaz on February 24.

He added Mohabat Khan, a man pretending to be an intelligence agency official, had demanded Rs1.5 million from them for their release.

According to the counsel, the family filed an FIR against Mohabat at Michni police station and was subsequently informed that Ayaz and Riaz were in Bara subdivision in the custody of the political administration.

However, Iqbal Durrani, counsel for the political administration, told the court both men had been handed over to them by an intelligence agency. They had been taken into custody on the basis of a statement given by a man named Shafiq who was arrested in Lahore, said Durrani.

The court then asked the political administration of Khyber Agency to provide a complete record of the case and explain why the two men arrested from the settled areas are still in their custody.

Seeking answers

The bench also heard a petition filed by Umer Ali regarding the disappearance of Sabz Ali Khan and Zareen Khan. It was informed that both men went missing some years ago and a report revealed they were held at the internment centre in Lakki Marwat.

However, in his report, Bannu DPO said Sabz Ali was killed in a drone strike in the tribal areas.

The court then asked the government to provide complete records about when the drone strike occurred.

A detailed report on the whereabouts of Noor Muhammad, who had gone missing from Batkhela, Malakand, was also sought. The family was previously told Noor had been held at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. However, even after eight years, his whereabouts are unknown.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2015.