ISLAMABAD: A former head of the ISI, Lt-Gen. (retd) Hamid Gul has said in an interview recently that the ISI does not arrest citizens and that it is in fact the Intelligence Bureau (IB) which has the powers of arresting people. This is, however, not the legal and factually correct position.
Under the Constitution, freedom of movement is the fundamental right of every citizen of Pakistan. Article 9 states: “No person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law.”
The right to arrest a citizen, which means detaining him physically in a place officially notified by the government for the said purpose, has been granted to the police by the Criminal Procedure Code 1861, in accordance with the provision of Constitution. Besides the police there are several other agencies like the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Anti-Narcotics Force (AFS), the Airport Security Force (ASF), Coast Guards, Excise Department, etc., all established under acts of Parliament, whose personnel have been empowered to arrest a citizen who has committed an offence or someone against whom there is strong suspicion that he may be preparing to commit an offence.
There is also the convention of the citizen’s power of arrest. If, for example, a person is trying to escape after committing an offence or if an accused person has been declared ‘proclaimed offender’ by a competent court, then a private citizen can arrest him and immediately hand him over to the police. However, a private citizen or an unauthorised official cannot physically detain another citizen. An arrested person has to be detained in a police station which necessarily means that all private prisons are illegal. Those arrested and detained at a police station are kept in full public view in the lock-up. A magistrate can visit the lock-up any time to check this, as can a bailiff of a court.
Intelligence agencies all over the world pick up suspected persons for questioning. They are detained in safe houses and interrogation cells. The statement of the former ISI chief in inaccurate because the PSP officers who have headed the Intelligence Bureau have never demanded such powers for their personnel.
It may also be mentioned here that there is no Act of Parliament which regulates the working of the Intelligence Bureau. Its personnel are civil servants who enjoy all the privileges granted under the Civil Servants Act 1973 and the rules and regulations enacted by the government. These rules do not empower a civil servant to arrest a citizen. However, they can assist the police in making a legal arrest.
Asghar Mahmood
Additional IGP (retd)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2012.
