The CJ directed the home secretary to take up the matter with relevant officials. PHOTO: PPI
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Home and Tribal Affairs department should establish proper procedures for allowing family visits to internment centres, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Mazhar Alam Miankhel said after receiving an unsatisfactory document from the home department regarding the visitation process in place for families of ‘missing’ persons.
The CJ directed the home secretary to take up the matter with relevant officials as he is the responsible authority. His remarks came after a section officer provided the CJ with a statement the department had written to the relevant internment centre to allow relatives of a detained person to meet him.
A division bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Ikramullah Khan was hearing 23 petitions of enforced disappearances wherein petitioners’ relatives were picked up from various areas after which they ‘disappeared’.
Deputy Attorney General Manzoor Khan Khalil and Additional Advocate General Rab Nawaz Khan appeared on behalf of the federal and provincial governments respectively while Major Muhammad Ali represented the Ministry of Defence.
Advocate Muhammad Iqbal Mohmand informed the bench that Niaz Ali was picked up by security agencies on June 8, 2011 and is presently detained at the internment centre in Ghallanai, Mohmand Agency. The detainee is suffering from tuberculosis (TB) so it would be better if he is shifted to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, he argued.
The court then ordered the interment centre’s TB wing in charge to provide a complete report to the court detailing whether the detainee’s treatment can be undertaken at the centre or if he needs to be shifted to a general hospital.
The bench then learnt that Nisar Ali, brother of petitioner Liaqat Ali, was arrested on September 9, 2009 and is at an internment centre in Lakki Marwat. The court directed authorities to submit the oversight board report regarding the case’s progress.
Lawyers of both the federal and provincial governments were directed that a comprehensive report of the oversight board should be provided. These reports should contain the progress of all detainees’ cases to determine what steps had been taken.
The bench said no official lower than the deputy secretary of the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs department should come to the court to assist in the case and the official should have all required details about those missing.
On Tuesday, the court issued a show-cause notice to the secretary home and tribal affairs department to submit a report within 15 days to explain why the high court’s orders in the case are not being followed.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ