Enforced disappearances: Eighth grader listed as ‘proven militant’

Placed in black category by Lakki Marwat internment centre’s oversight board.

PESHAWAR: The Lakki Marwat interment centre oversight board has found Shahid Khan, an eight-grader, a collaborator of militants and listed him in the black category (proven militant).

The information was shared by Additional Advocate General Qaiser Ali Shah on behalf of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department during the hearing of 10 petitions on enforced disappearances on Tuesday. A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan heard the petitions.

Upon hearing the oversight board’s findings, Shahid’s father Sarbuland Khan erupted in rage and asked the court how a secondary school student could possibly be a collaborator of militants. “How can a schoolboy be involved in anti-state activities? I want to know the exact charges against my son,” he said, adding he had taken Shahid to the police station on the request of police officials.



“Is there a limit to injustice? You lock me up in a room and even I will confess to whatever you wish,” the perturbed father yelled, adding he met his son twice and has not seen him for a long time. The court said the purpose of the hearing was to trace the whereabouts of his son and the case cannot be pursued further since he has been listed in the black category.

Moreover, the investigation reports produced before the court read that Mufti Ishaq Hussain, Yousaf Shah, Abdullah, Muhammad Asif Khan, Taj Wali, Murad Khan and Akhtar Ali, currently held at the Lakki Marwat interment centre, were placed in the black category. The court disposed their petitions and issued directives regarding the facilities they should be provided with.

In another case, the oversight board found Asif Khan involved in anti-state activities and placed him in the black category while his counsel claimed the K-P government issued an advertisement in newspapers on February 13, declaring Khan a proclaimed offender and offering Rs1 million as head money. Khan’s mother Nazakat Bibi said he used to work at Gomal University, DI Khan as an office boy, from where security forces picked him up four years ago. The family was allowed to see him at Lakki Marwat internment centre six months back. The court directed the provincial government to submit a detailed report regarding the detainee at the next date of hearing.

The bench was also informed the suspected collaborator of a suicide bomber, who went missing in November 20, 2012, is also detained at the Lakki Marwat internment centre. The petition said police had allegedly arrested the bomber, Bilal, and his handler Jehangir Khan from the jurisdiction of Sarban police. Bilal has already been produced before the anti-terrorism court.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2015.