Pakistan prisoners despair in Afghan jails

US official admits there are 25 Pakistanis detained in Afghanistan, BBC report estimates 265.

ISLAMABAD:

For Wakeel Khan, the worst aspect of the disappearance of his son Hameedullah was initially not knowing his fate.

Hameedullah disappeared from the tribal region of Waziristan in a 2008 military operation, reported BBC news. For a while, it seemed that he had fallen off the face of the earth.

“It was five, six months after my son went missing that I found out he was at Bagram [the main US base in Afghanistan],” a visibly upset Khan, who served in the Pakistan Army for 15 years told the BBC.

“The Red Cross helped us get in touch with him in jail, but for two years, he couldn’t even tell us why he’d been arrested,” he said. Even now, whenever I ask him about his living conditions, the line just gets disconnected, he added.

All this is a far cry from Khan’s earlier wish for his son to become a doctor. But Mr Khan is not the only one whose dreams have been shattered.

Haroon Khan’s nephew has also ended up in Bagram prison. “My nephew took his father to the doctor in Karachi and stepped out for a moment. A year later, the Red Cross told us he was in Bagram. We’ve never gone to see my nephew. He’s specifically asked us not to risk getting into trouble ourselves.”

Wakeel’s son and Haroon’s nephew are among hundreds of people allegedly arrested from all over Pakistan and Afghanistan after the US launched its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Some were subsequently found not guilty and set free - but only after they had spent years in jail.

The two men are among seven families who have lodged a case in a Lahore court seeking their early release.

The Pakistani government says that in addition to these cases, there are 13 other confirmed cases of Pakistanis being held at Bagram. The foreign ministry has confirmed their presence at Bagram but refuses to speculate on the date of their release.

“We hope they will be set free soon, but that decision has to be taken in Washington,” foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit said.

The precise number of Pakistanis in US detention in Afghanistan has until now remained a mystery.

A US spokesperson at Bagram told the BBC that “a very small number - under 50 - of our detainee population are third-country nationals [neither US nor Afghan citizens] and that out of this group, slightly more than half are Pakistani.”

It is estimated that there are at least 265 Pakistanis held in jails in Afghanistan “We ensure all detainees are treated humanely, in accordance with all applicable US law and policy, including (Common Article III of) the Geneva Conventions.”

Access to the Bagram detention centre is restricted, but BBC Urdu Service said that in the Pul-e-Charki jail on the outskirts of Kabul, more than 100 Pakistanis are being held among a total of 265 throughout the country.

“I was arrested four years ago from Chitral for treating the Taliban,” said Saeed Akbar. My crime has not been proven and they have no evidence against me. Initially they said I was working for the intelligence agencies, then they said I’m a doctor, he said.

Hafiz Muhammad Shoaib is another detainee, hailing from Punjab. “I was arrested at the Torkham border four years ago, allegedly for spying for the Taliban. I’ve been taken to court twice but the courts here don’t listen to what the accused has to say - they just go by what’s in the records. So I’ve been convicted of spying, even though I’m innocent.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2011.