Disobeying orders: Time’s up for security companies, says PHC

Bench withdraws stay order against licence suspension of private security firms.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) withdrew its stay orders against suspending operations of private security companies.

The provincial government had suspended about 27 security companies, including Wackenhut Security, after some of their licences expired. Others companies’ operations were stopped after they failed to respond to certain queries of the government.

During the previous hearing on August 25, the high court bench observed that it would withdraw its stay orders if the companies failed to submit their replies by September 5.

On Wednesday, PHC’s division bench, comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Shahjahan Akhunzada, started hearing  a petition filed by Wackenhut Security, a foreign security company. The bench was requested to adjourn the case because the company’s counsel, Waqar Khan, was not in the country.

However, after going through the order sheet of a case hearing on August 1, the bench gave its orders as the deadline was over. The stay order was cancelled and orders of the home department issued on February 28, 2012, were enacted.

Officials of the home department told The Express Tribune that they were waiting to obtain a copy of the order sheet. Once that is received, an operation against the companies would be launched.

“We know that Wackenhut Security has almost been merged into another security company in Peshawar. We know about their deal along with all the relevant information and will soon be seizing everything belonging to the company,” an official said.

Transfer of prisoner from Adyala

In a separate case, the PHC ordered a prisoner acquitted in a Polish engineer’s murder case to be moved from the Adyala prison to Peshawar Central Jail.

Ataullah, a Kohat resident, had been arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder of Peter Stanczak, a Polish engineer, who was kidnapped from Attock in 2008. However, Ataullah was later acquitted of the charges by a Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court.

Saleem Shah Hoti, counsel for Ataullah, informed a division bench, comprising Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaisar, that Ataullah had been acquitted from the murder charges but was still being held in Adyala prison. He said that Ataullah was wanted by the Kohat police for other cases, requesting the court to shift Ataullah from Adyala to Peshawar prison.

The bench ordered the secretary of the home and tribal affairs department to make necessary arrangements for the transfer.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2012.