A written reply was filed in Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan’s court by the ministry through a law officer in response to a petition seeking directions for the government to get several Pakistani citizens released from Bagram jail where they have been detained without any fault and without having the right of trial.
The ministry, however, did not reveal the names of the prisoners who are being released and also did not give a date for their release.
After going through the reply, Justice Khan said that this is a testament to the hard work done by the Justice Project Pakistan, an organisation struggling for the release and repatriation of Pakistani prisoners held in foreign prisons without any charge.
The judge adjourned the hearing till November 15.
Counsel for the detainees, Sarah Belal, said that this reply of the government showed that the Pakistani government has finally committed itself to repatriate six of its citizens from Bagram. “I sincerely hope that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lives up to their promise made in the court,” she said adding that the fate of a further 37 Pakistanis detained in Bagram remained uncertain.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Sultana Noon, representative of the non-profit law firm Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a fellow of Reprieve (a UK based organisation) in Pakistan. Initially, the petition was filed for the release of seven Pakistanis prisoners, but later it was revealed that more Pakistanis were also detained at the jail.
The petitioner submitted that the citizens had been detained at the Bagram jail without any charges and trial since 2003. She alleged that they were abducted from Pakistan and shifted to the notorious US prison in Afghanistan.
The seven prisoners on the JPP petition are Awal Noor, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Faizal Karim, Amal Khan,Yunus Rahmatullah and Iftikhaar Ahmed.
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It seems to me that when prisoners are released after years of torturous detention without trial, they are rarely heard from again. I think most of them are released under the condition that they will be imprisoned by the country where they are sent. I hope this newspaper will follow up on their stories. I can assure you that this release will not be mentioned in any USA news. Bagram Prison is very rarely mentioned and then only in the context of policy disputes between the USA and A'stan-never in regard to the prisoners or their conditions.
Rather than pat yourself on the back maybe a simple "thank you" should be send to the Afghan's.
Will the useless government of this country compensate these poor people? Will they ask the US to compensate?