Pakistani detainees in Guantanamo: IHC hauls up interior ministry official

Committee formed last year to look into matter yet to meet.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered a deputy secretary of the interior ministry to appear in person before the court in a case pertaining to the issue of Pakistani citizens detained at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

A division bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi and Justice Aamer Farooq ordered the official to appear before the court along with a report from the inter-ministerial committee about the steps it has taken to look into the issue of Pakistani nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay prison.

The prime minister had constituted the committee in 2014 to examine and take up the issue of seeking release of Pakistani prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. However, on the previous hearing, it emerged that the committee had never met since its formation.

Muhammad Shafi, the petitioner, had approached the court saying his brother-in-law, Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, was among many Pakistanis picked up by Pakistan intelligences agencies from Karachi in Dec 2001 and handed over to the US authorities in Jan 2002 without any legal process.

In August 2003, Rabbani was transferred to Bagram prison in Afghanistan and in January 2004, he was shifted to Guantanamo Bay, where he has been receiving terrible treatment till now, the petitioner said.

Shafi’s counsel, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, said the prisoners have been detained for 16 years but the committee is yet to huddle over the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2015.