Bad precedent: Court questions inmate’s transfer to Haripur

The court issues notice to secretary Home and Tribal Affairs to explain prison transfer.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) sought an explanation from the provincial government on Thursday as to how a man involved in an attack on former president Pervez Musharraf was shifted from a prison in Punjab to Central Jail Haripur.

PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan issued a notice to secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to explain the reason behind the move.

CJ Khan was informed by the petitioner’s counsel, Wali Khan Afridi, that his client Farhad was an employee of the Army Medical Corps’ nursing wing when he was accused of being involved in an attack on Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s convoy in 2003. He was later sentenced for 11 years by a court martial
in 2007.

Afridi said the accused had spent six years in prison but was also kept behind bars before the sentencing.

CJ said the provincial government had twice sent letters to the federal government to shift Dr Shakil Afridi from Peshawar Central Jail owing to security threats, but to
no avail.

He asked why high-profile terrorists were being shifted to K-P, if they were not in a position to keep them. Another accused in the Musharraf case, Adnan Rashid, was shifted from Punjab to Bannu before he escaped along with other prisoners in April 2012.

The court issued a notice to secretary Home and Tribal Affairs to explain Farhad’s prison transfer to Haripur. An explanation has also been sought from the army’s judge advocate general
(JAG) branch.

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