The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has issued a notice to authorities in Swat over the illegal detention of residents.
The orders against officials concerned, including security forces, were issued in two different cases by separate division benches.
During the hearing of a petition filed by Muhammad Shah, a division bench comprising Justice Miftahuddin and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth was informed that Shah’s 15-year-old son Akbar Siddique had been handed over to the military.
Siddique is from Shamozai tehsil of Swat and worked as a daily wager in Karachi. Shah’s attorney Khanzada Khan told the bench that two men from Swat, Mian Zareen and Malik Gulistan, asked Shah to tell his son to return from Karachi as he was wanted by security forces for his alleged involvement in militant activities.
Khan said Siddique returned to Swat and was handed over to the military on May 4, 2010. Security forces assured him that he would return home in a few days. However, Siddique has yet to come back.
The bench later asked the commissioner of Malakand, the district police, Swat coordination officers and commanding officers of the armed forces to file a reply in the case.
Another division bench comprising Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk and Justice Mrs Irshad Qaisar issued a similar notice against the same respondents after another petitioner, Aziz Khan, made the same allegations.
Aziz, also through attorney Khan, informed the bench that Noor Ali had also been called home from Karachi and was handed over to security forces in the same manner, on the same date and with the same assurances. Ali has also not returned home since.
The bench sought a reply from the respondents and accepted the petition for further hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2012.
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