Final verdict: Court orders interment centre to let detainee meet family

Special arrangements made for petitioner’s family to meet son.

PESHAWAR: Additional chief secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on Tuesday was ordered to make arrangements for internment centre detainees to meet with their families. The order was passed after a two-member division bench heard the petition filed by Muhammad Ishaq.

Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Musarrat Hilali were told Ishaq’s son Rafi Ayaz and his driver Taj Muhammad were arrested on September 14, 2012 and were nowhere to be found. He claimed Taj Muhammad was eventually released but the truck in which he had been arrested was auctioned off through officials from the customs department.

Representing the Frontier Constabulary, Major Muhammad Ayaz said Rafi Ayaz had not disappeared as alleged by the petitioner but was being kept in detention at the Ghallanai Mohmand Agency internment centre.



After hearing both sides of the argument, the judges ordered the FATA additional chief secretary, the in-charge at the internment centre and the secretary of the home and tribal affairs department to ensure detainees could meet with their families. The officials were told to make special arrangements for the petitioner and his family to meet his son. The judges also said if the driver wanted his truck back, he needed to file a separate petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2013.