‘Illegal’ detention: Court asks deputy AG to submit replies

Petitioner claims her husband is in custody of intelligence agency.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered on Monday the deputy attorney general to submit a report in connection with a petition seeking release of a resident of Swat allegedly in custody of an intelligence agency.

Nisar Ahmed was allegedly detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on June 1 upon his arrival from Qatar and later handed over to an intelligence agency for ‘being the brother of a militant,’ claimed the petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Zafar Iqbal Zafar.

Dilshad Begum, the wife of Nisar Ahmed, had gone to the IHC saying FIA detained her husband, who along with his wife, mother and six children arrived at the BBIA after eight years, as his name was on the Exit Control List (ECL).

She has made the interior secretary, FIA director-general, FIA police station SHO, defence secretary and directors general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence as respondents.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC ordered DAG Husnain Ibrahim Kazmi to obtain a reply from the interior ministry, defence ministry and FIA and submit it by July 16.

In the petition, Dilshad stated that the petitioner’s family was kept at the airport for the whole day on June 1 and at the end of the day, FIA allowed them to go home and kept Ahmed in custody saying he would be released in a day after necessary investigation.

The next day, when the family approached them, FIA officials told the petitioner that her husband was now in ISI custody for further inquiry and will be released in a couple of days.

On June 5, the officials of the agency brought Ahmed to his home in Swat for a meeting with the family and assured them that he would be released in three to four days after completion of a necessary inquiry, Dilshad stated in the petition.

After four days, Zafar said Ahmed’s elder son got a call from an agency official saying his father would be released only after he produces one of his uncles, identified as Ishaque, before them. Talking to The Express Tribune, Zafar said ISI officials suspect that Ishaque was a militant and is affiliated with the Taliban.

The petition also revealed that Dilshad submitted an appeal before Commander 11 Corps for releasing her husband but there has been no response from the army.

She has prayed the court to direct the respondents to release her husband and produce him before a court, delete his name from the ECL and restrain the respondents from unlawfully interfering with the liberty and freedom of her husband.

Interestingly, the copies of the family’s passports submitted in IHC along with the petition have expired.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2015.