PHC missing persons case: ‘TB patient must be proved medically fit for jail’

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court has sought a medical fitness certificate for a previously missing person who was found in Mohmand Agency and moved to Peshawar to be treated for Tuberculosis.

In the last hearing, PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan had ordered Deputy Attorney General Iqbal Mohmand to shift Sartaj, a resident of militancy-hit Mohmand Agency, to Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital after his illness surfaced.Sartaj is a close relative of a Taliban commander from Mohmand Agency Qari Shakeel, according to a Frontier Corps official. “He was treated for eight months and can be moved to an internment center,” Major Iqbal said.

However, the chief justice said that a certificate must be produced before the court to prove that Sartaj was healthy enough to be shifted back to Ghalanai.

The ministries of defence and interior have both denied picking up Sartaj and the hospital’s records show that he was brought to the hospital by FC personnel on February 19.

A ray of hope appeared in the PHC when a previously missing person, Akbar Khan, a resident of Buner District, was produced before the court. Khan had disappeared along with his friend Fazle Karim, who is still missing.

“Sir, I was working in Karachi but left for my village due to the deteriorating law and order situation over there. I went to Mohmand Agency to attend a friend’s wedding and was picked up while I was returning home,” Khan told the court. He said he was blindfolded and could not identify his kidnappers.

Mohmand informed the court that both the ministries of defence and interior deny having picked up Karim. The court issued notices to the ministries to inform the court on the whereabouts of Karim.

In another missing persons case, the counsel for Kemya Khan, Abdul Aziz and Rahim Shah informed the court that Khan had reached home while Aziz and Shah were still missing. Mohmand sought time from the court to discuss the cases with security agencies.

Meanwhile, hearing another petition, the chief justice ordered Mohmand to inquire and find out the whereabouts of Firdous, a resident of Michni area of Mohmand Agency. “My son went missing last year. If he is involved in a crime, punish him but just inform me whether or not he is alive,” Firdous’ mother said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2012.