Missing persons case: PHC asks federal secretaries to submit reply - again
Three people thought to be missing return home.
PESHAWAR:
Yet another order was given to the federal secretaries of the interior and defence ministry to submit their replies on the whereabouts of missing persons.
The division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaisar, told the secretaries to reply with a sworn affidavit so that the long-standing issue comes to an end.
The bench heard 57 habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of the missing people, who allege that police and security agencies have detained their loved ones and put them in illegal custody.
Offering an explanation for the absence of representatives from both the defence and interior ministries, Deputy Attorney General Muzammil Khan informed the bench that the ministries had been busy discussing the issue with concerned high-ranking officials.
The deputy attorney general said that since a number of cases had been adjourned for December 4 during the last case hearing on November 6, the officials were preparing for a detailed reply that was to be submitted on December 4.
“We are continuously giving them (federal ministries and security agencies) time. Tell them to give us a convincing reply, otherwise we will start discussing the legality of detention centres being run by security agencies,” CJ Khan said and adjourned all case hearings for December 18.
The bench was told that three more people, Jihangir, Fazl-e-Wahab and his son Shah Saud, previously thought to be missing, had reached home after which their petitions were disposed.
Wahab told The Express Tribune that he, along with son Shah Saud, had been picked up by men in plainclothes during a mid-night raid at his house on August 16, 2012. Both were shifted to an undisclosed location and were released on September 22.
Wahab said he was unaware of the reason behind his detention, but assumed it was because the day he was picked up, he had visited a mobile phone repairing shop where the repairman had inserted his mobile sim into another mobile phone.
“Maybe the other guy had used his cell phone in anti-state activities and my sim was traced,” Wahab said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.
Yet another order was given to the federal secretaries of the interior and defence ministry to submit their replies on the whereabouts of missing persons.
The division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaisar, told the secretaries to reply with a sworn affidavit so that the long-standing issue comes to an end.
The bench heard 57 habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of the missing people, who allege that police and security agencies have detained their loved ones and put them in illegal custody.
Offering an explanation for the absence of representatives from both the defence and interior ministries, Deputy Attorney General Muzammil Khan informed the bench that the ministries had been busy discussing the issue with concerned high-ranking officials.
The deputy attorney general said that since a number of cases had been adjourned for December 4 during the last case hearing on November 6, the officials were preparing for a detailed reply that was to be submitted on December 4.
“We are continuously giving them (federal ministries and security agencies) time. Tell them to give us a convincing reply, otherwise we will start discussing the legality of detention centres being run by security agencies,” CJ Khan said and adjourned all case hearings for December 18.
The bench was told that three more people, Jihangir, Fazl-e-Wahab and his son Shah Saud, previously thought to be missing, had reached home after which their petitions were disposed.
Wahab told The Express Tribune that he, along with son Shah Saud, had been picked up by men in plainclothes during a mid-night raid at his house on August 16, 2012. Both were shifted to an undisclosed location and were released on September 22.
Wahab said he was unaware of the reason behind his detention, but assumed it was because the day he was picked up, he had visited a mobile phone repairing shop where the repairman had inserted his mobile sim into another mobile phone.
“Maybe the other guy had used his cell phone in anti-state activities and my sim was traced,” Wahab said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.