In detention: Let Amir Khan’s family meet him, says SHC

High court hears petition by families of MQM workers detained by law enforcers


Our Correspondent April 30, 2015
MQM central leader Amir Khan is being escorted back to the vehicle by Rangers personnel after being presented before an anti-terrorism court. PHOTO: INP

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has asked the provincial home secretary, the provincial chiefs of the Rangers, police and the Karachi Central Jail to explain why the families of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Amir Khan and activist Moazzam Ali Khan are not being allowed to see them in prison.

According to the petition filed in SHC, Khan and 110 other MQM workers were detained by the Rangers on March 11 when they carried out a pre-dawn raid on the party headquarters, Nine Zero. Meanwhile, Moazzam was taken away from his house near Azizabad in a similar raid on April 12.

A division bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, directed the provincial law officers to submit comments of the home, police and Rangers authorities by the next hearing.

Muhammad Azam Khan, brother of the detained MQM leader who is under preventive detention of the Rangers for 90 days, said the family members have not been allowed to meet Amir since he was arrested. This is a violation of fundamental rights of the detainee guaranteed under the country's Constitution, his lawyer argued.

The petitioner said that he had approached the officers of the Rangers and the prison authorities to allow the meeting but they turned down their request. The court was pleaded to direct the authorities to allow the families to meet the men.

Meanwhile, Moazzam's wife Sadia Bano filed a plea in which she said the paramilitary force raided their house in Block 8 of Federal B Area on April 12 and took away her husband and his belongings including his laptop.

Subsequently, she said, her spouse was presented before an anti-terrorism court by the Rangers personnel, who told the court that Moazzam was detained for 90 days for questioning. "At that time, Rangers personnel assured them that the family members will be allowed to meet the detainee at any time," she said.

Bano regretted that neither she nor other family members are being allowed to meet Moazzam, who was kept at Karachi Central Prison. She made similar requests to DIG South, who is heading the joint investigation team interrogating Moazzam, but to no avail, she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2015. 

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ