Enforced disappearances: ‘State liable to pay diyat if killer unidentified’

PHC CJ Miankhel instructs government to submit death, oversight board and compliance reports.

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel on Thursday said the state is liable to pay diyat (blood money) to the legal heirs of the deceased when the murderer is unidentified.

The chief justice and Justice Roohul Amin Khan were hearing petitions filed by families whose loved ones had gone missing but their bodies were later recovered from various internment centres. Deputy Attorney General Manzoor Khalil and Additional Advocate General Mujahid Ali Khan represented the federal and provincial governments, respectively.

Whisked away

When the bench took up the cases for legal proceedings, it was informed that several members of Haji Naik Badshah’s family went missing in 2012 from Orakzai Agency. Later, bodies of three relatives, Barkat Shah, Bakhtawar Shah and Tahir Shah, were handed over to the family. Meanwhile, Sahib Shah, Nasib Shah and Bilal Shah were added to the grey category and are currently detained at Kohat internment centre. The whereabouts of Turab Shah, Ajmal Shah, Faqir Shah, Amjid Shah and Khan Amir are still unknown. The court then ordered the provincial and federal governments to provide records of the said people.

Lost identity

The court was also informed about another previously missing person, Mir Zali Khan, whose body was handed over to his family on September 4, 2014 in Kohat. The family told the bench they have not received Khan’s death certificate despite several months going by and the government has refused to issue NICs to his children.

The additional advocate general told the court a meeting of the oversight board of the relevant internment centre has been convened and the matter will be taken up. The bench then ordered the government to provide the death certificate within a week and submit a compliance report before the court.

Medical grounds

The case of Amanat Khan and Khalid Khan was also brought to light when the bench was told the Hepatitis C patients are currently detained in Landikotal, Khyber Agency and are provided with inadequate health facilities. The bench noted under the Actions (in aid of civil power) Regulation 2011, the government is bound to provide sufficient medical facilities to all detainees held in different internment centres.

Moreover, the court was informed about another family of missing persons. Anwaruddin’s body was handed over to his family while his relatives Ghaffaruddin and Afsaruddin are still detained in Kohat. The court ordered the government produce the report stating Anwaruddin’s cause of death and oversight board reports of the two other detainees.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.