DAG requests PHC for more time, next hearing scheduled for April 30. PHOTO: FILE
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued a second order on Wednesday to the Army General Headquarters (GHQ) to submit an inquiry report over the killing of a missing person before the next date of hearing on April 30.
A division bench of newly-appointed PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan heard the case of Abdul Samad, who was allegedly picked up by security agencies and then reportedly killed while he was escaping from custody.
Counsel for the petitioner, Razaullah Khan, told the bench that an order should also be issued to the Pakistan Army to conduct an inquiry and submit a report, apart from the one being conducted by the police.
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Kifayatullah, who was representing the Defence Secretary and the GHQ, told the court that Brigadier Nobahar, who was supposed to conduct the inquiry, is busy in an operation in DI Khan and thus could not complete the report. If sufficient time is given, the report will be submitted, added Kifayatullah.
In the previous hearing on March 25, Colonel Imran of JAG Branch said the inquiry of the case had been conducted and the report is at the GHQ. He claimed that the deceased had registered his confessional report in the court of judicial magistrate Zafarullah Mohmand, which showed that he was involved in serious offences.
The bench then ordered the police department to submit its report within two days, drawn up by a committee it had constituted on April 7. Deputy Superintendent of Police Legal Branch Qazi Sajid told the court that a committee had been constituted on the court’s order and they had completed the inquiry, a report of which would soon be submitted.
The petitioner, Haji Mir Rehman, alleged that his son was taken into custody by intelligence agencies from the jurisdiction of East Cantonment police station on October 30, 2011. After a few months, the petition was filed; but in August 2012, his body was handed over to the family.
Abdul Samad was killed, along with two others, in an alleged encounter with security forces in the cantonment area. The FIR says the detainees were kept in a temporary detention centre, while they waited to be transported to a notified internment centre. It alleged that the detainees had snatched a rifle from a security guard and started firing.
In a separate case, the same bench also ordered the DAG to produce the complete record of Minhajuddin, who was detained at an internment centre in Kohat.
CJ Miankhel remarked that some people are kept in internment centres and left there to be forgotten, adding that a legal procedure must be followed.
The bench said if the detainee is found guilty, his trial should be conducted; but should be released if there are no charges proven against him. The court will conduct the hearing of Minhajuddin’s case on April 29.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2014.
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