Fresh information: Report on Bagram detainees sought

JPP complained that the authorities were not giving the families access to the released detainees.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed the Interior Ministry to submit fresh information regarding whereabouts of seven Pakistani nationals who were recently repatriated from Bagram prison in Afghanistan. The court heard a petition filed by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) complaining that the authorities were not giving the families access to the released detainees. A counsel for the ministry told the court seven out of 10 Pakistanis repatriated from the prison had been released from the custody of FATA Secretariat. He produced a letter from the States and Frontier Regions Division confirming their release. Barrister Sarah Belal, the counsel for the JPP, rejected the state counsel’s claim saying that he was trying to mislead the court. She said the JPP was in constant contact with the families of the seven men and could confirm that they had not been released. Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan adjourned the hearing until June 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2014.