In GHQ attack case, court seeks deputy AG’s response

Fixes Oct 4 for next hearing.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the deputy attorney general (DAG) to submit his reply on the detention of three men facing court martial who had already been acquitted in connection with terrorist attacks in November 2007.

Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan fixed the hearing for October 4 and directed DAG Muhammad Abid Raja to submit his reply. The court also asked both the parties to prepare for arguments.

Mufti Abdul Bias, brother of the three detained men, Abdul Saboor, Abdul Majid and Abdul Basit, filed a petition on August 17 challenging their detention by intelligence agencies for attacks on General Headquarters and Hamza Camp on November 24, 2007.

During the course of the hearing on Thursday, Advocate Inamur Rahim, representing the detained men, argued that security agencies cannot detain them without issuing a charge sheet.

The DAG told the court that the men were arrested in accordance with the law and sought more time for submitting a reply. However, the court observed that the case should be consider a special case and asked the DAG to submit its reply by October 4.

On Sept 21, the court had rejected an objection raised by the federation that the petitions of three men were not maintainable in the IHC.

The DAG’s objection was that as the petitioners belong to Rawalpindi, the case does not fall under the jurisdiction of the IHC. He was of the view that petitioners should approach the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench.

However, the court overruled the objection on the grounds that the offices of both, the Ministry of Defence and Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) are situated in Islamabad.

On August 18, the court summoned the judge advocate general, interior secretary, Military Intelligence and the ISI’s director generals, the Adiyala Jail superintendent and his deputy to submit their comments.

The three brothers were acquitted along with eight others by a trial court in four terrorism cases. The counsel further maintained that Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed of LHC Rawalpindi Bench set aside their detention orders on May 2010. He said that instead of releasing them, Adiyala Jail Superintendent handed them over to personnel from an intelligence agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2011.