In custody: Authorities asked to arrange meeting between suspect and relatives

PESHAWAR:

On Tuesday Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa home secretary and the Malakand Fort internment centre in-charge were asked by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to facilitate a meeting between an interned person and his blood relatives.

A division bench issued the orders while hearing an application filed by the brother of Shaukat Ali, a suspected militant currently incarcerated at Malakand Fort.

Ali’s brother informed the court he had filed an application before the home secretary on May 8, adding it was later addressed to the internment centre. The brother added he was yet to meet Ali as authorities had been delaying a meeting between the two.

The bench observed the court had clearly ordered the home secretary and interning authorities to facilitate meetings between interned persons and their blood relatives under close observation, in order to prevent state secrets from leaking out.

The bench also observed these meetings were a sensitive matter as some high-profile militants had been interned. Consequently, it directed authorities to facilitate Ali’s meeting with his blood relatives within 10 days.

Ali, a 22-year-old second-year student at Government Post Graduate College Mardan, had been picked up from Mata, Katlang village during a search operation launched by security forces in 2010. He was shifted to an unknown location, but later identified in October 2011 upon court orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2013.