Failure to certify nationality: LHC tells off Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Petitioner says ministry delaying repatriation procedure for 32 Pakistanis jailed by US forces in Afghanistan.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday told off the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for failing to confirm the nationality of 32 Pakistanis detained by US forces at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.

Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan observed that the ministry had “failed miserably” to comply with his instructions, handed out a month ago, to certify the prisoners’ nationality.

He summoned the director of the Afghanistan desk at the ministry for July 13 with all their records relating to the Pakistani detainees at Bagram.

At the start of proceedings on Wednesday, a representative of the ministry submitted a report stating that letters had been sent to the families of the detainees and a list of their names had been provided to the Interior Ministry for confirmation. It said that the government would convey humanitarian and security assurances to the US, after which the detainees would receive an exit visa and be repatriated.

But the court observed that the ministry had presented no evidence that it was actually taking these steps. He told off the ministry’s representative for failing to compile basic details of the Pakistani prisoners who had already spent several years at Bagram.

The judge also criticised the ministry’s lack of sympathy for the Pakistani detainees and their families and warned that he would not shy away from holding officials accountable. “We must not let it get to the point where the secretaries concerned end up in jail,” he said.

Representing the families of detainees, Barrister Sarah Belal told the court that the Pakistan Embassy at Kabul had filed reports before the LHC confirming that the detainees were Pakistanis. She said that the ministry appeared to be intent on disowning them.

At the previous hearing, Belal had told the court that the government needed to confirm the nationalities of the detainees and provide humanitarian and security assurances about their future treatment.

Then they could be issued exit visas and repatriated. The US embassy has filed a diplomatic note before the LHC confirming this procedure.

The petition was filed by Sultana Noon, a representative of the non-profit law firm Justice Project Pakistan and a fellow of Reprieve, a UK-based rights organisation. Initially, the petition was filed for the return of seven Pakistanis prisoners. It was later revealed that more Pakistanis were being held at the jail in Bagram.

The petitioner submitted that the Pakistanis had been detained there without charge or trial since 2003. She said that they had been abducted from Pakistan and shifted to Afghanistan.

The seven prisoners mentioned in the initial petition were Awwal Khan, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Fazal Karim, Amal Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad and Younas Rehmatullah.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2012.