Court orders removal of misplaced name from watch list

Petitioner accused of links with banned outfits was placed on list in 2004.

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed the Jhang police and the Home Department to remove the name of a Jhang resident suspected of affiliation with banned outfits from their watch-list.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry held in the detailed order that the name of a person could not be placed on the list, prepared under the 4th Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, for a period exceeding three years.

The bench stated that it was against the relevant provisions of the law as well as a violation of the inalienable rights of the petitioner.

The bench directed the authorities concerned to remove the name with immediate effect. As’ad Umer, the petitioner, had submitted that his name was added to the list on September 11, 2004. He held that the Kotwali police station in Jhang had mistaken him for another person, Muhammad Umar Farooq, due to the resemblance of names.

He denied that he was linked to any jihadi organisation or that he had been involved in extremist activities.

He said that the decision constituted a violation of the Section 11EE of the ATA to place someone’s name in the list for more than three years and requested the court to issue directives for the immediate removal of Asad’s name from the list.

Earlier, Jhang district police officer, submitted, in a written report, that the petitioner was suspected of affiliation with the banned organisations Sipah-i-Sahaba and Lashker-i-Jhangvi.

The DPO’s report also accused the petitioner of being close to Muhammad Siddique, a proclaimed offender in the murder of former MPA Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal in 2009.

An additional advocate general told the court that Umar’s name was incorporated into the list after receiving sufficient evidence from law enforcing agencies that his activities could possibly have been detrimental to public safety and maintenance of order and sectarian harmony.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2010.