Man moves court to pre-empt agencies’ move

Petitioner fears his father might be picked up by the intelligence agencies upon release.

RAWALPINDI:

A man moved the court seeking directives for jail authorities to not hand over his father to intelligence agencies after his release from detention.

Muhammad Ashfaq, the son of Muhammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil, filed a petition with the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench to pre-empt any possible move by the intelligence agencies to take away his father who has been detained in Adiala Jail. His detention expires on October 4.

Making Adiala Jail superintendent as the respondent, Ashfaq urged the court to direct the jail authorities to hand over his father to his family and not to the intelligence agencies, “which has happened previously in other cases”.

Ilyas along with eight other men was arrested by the Rawalpindi police in March 2009 for carrying huge quantity of explosives and weapons, his involvement in the February 2008 suicide attack on the military’s top surgeon, General Mushtaq Baig, June 2008 attack outside Danish Embassy and in the July 2008 suicide attack on policemen at Melody Chowk. However, he was cleared of these charges.

He was, however, sentenced to seven years jail term by the court of a magistrate for carrying explosives and illegal weapons. The LHC later accepted his appeal and set aside his conviction in April this year.

However, the interior ministry issued Ilyas’s detention order for three months that were further extended for one month. “His detention will end on October 4 and the Federal Review Board denied the request of the interior ministry to extend the detention,” the petitioner said.

The petitioner said that the intelligence agencies’ personnel had reportedly taken away some men from the jail upon their release. These people had also been acquitted from the court of law, but were later frisked away by the agencies, added Ashfaq.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2011.