PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court issued a show-cause notice to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s secretary for Home and Tribal Affairs on Wednesday as he failed to submit a report in a missing persons’ case. He was also ordered to appear before the court on September 23.
The two-member bench of Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain and Justice Ikramullah Khan was informed by Advocate Mohib Jan that intelligence agencies, with the help of the police, allegedly picked up Musafar and Arif from Haji Camp on July 25, 2011.
In the petition, the family accused ASP Muhammad Faisal of picking up the two men. It said Musafar was a truck driver, and Arif his assistant, a cleaner; neither had any links with a militant organisation.
The counsel for the petitioner stated on June 24, 2014, relatives of the two missing men were informed that both were being kept at an internment centre in Kohat.
Less than a month later, Musafar’s body was handed over to his family without any information about the cause of death. To this, Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan told the bench he would submit the post-mortem report for Musafar. He added the secretary Home and Tribal Affairs had reports from all relevant boards that oversee these centres.
The PHC then ordered the official to appear in person on the next date of hearing and issued him a show-cause notice for failing to submit the proper reply sought by the court.
Arif is still being detained at the centre.
In a separate case, the same bench issued a notice to Kohat internment centre’s in charge.
The court was informed by Advocate Gul Nazir that six family members of his client, Naek Muhammad Shah, were allegedly picked up by intelligence agencies in 2012. They included Barkat Shah, Tahir Shah, Bakhtawar Shah, Ismail Shah, Hazrat Shah, and Nazar Shah.
Nazir said the bodies of Barkat, Tahir and Bakhtawar were handed over to the family, while the remaining people were still at Kohat internment centre.
The court issued a notice to the in charge of the internment centre to submit a comprehensive report on the three missing persons.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 21st, 2014.
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