SHC tells law officer to submit present status of doctor’s reference
The Sindh High Court directed the provincial law officer on Wednesday to submit the present status of the reference of doctor, who is listed on the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act (the terror-watch list) for the last couple of years by the home department, observing that no person could be kept on the list for an indefinite period.
The court was hearing the petition of Dr Akmal Waheed, a cardiac specialist, who sought deletion of his name from the IV-Schedule.
The petitioner submitted that he was cleared of terrorism charges by the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court in 2005 and 2006 respectively but the home department had placed him on the Fourth Schedule and imposed certain restrictions on his free movement and other fundamental rights that were guaranteed under the Constitution.
The petitioner’s counsel, Mohammad Farooq, submitted that because of police highhandedness, Dr Akmal had migrated to the UAE along with his family to work at the Raisul Khaima Medical Duty and Dental College in UAE. However, the UAE intelligence agencies had detained him for two years on the recommendation of the Pakistani authorities for the petitioner’s ties with a terrorist organisation and later deported him in August 2012.
The counsel submitted that the petitioner was again arrested by police on his arrival in Karachi for violating a Fourth Schedule offence however an anti-terrorism court had granted him bail. He said that since the bail, the petitioner was continuously being harassed by police and summoned to appear before them for interrogation time and again in connection with terrorism-related incidents in Karachi.
He submitted that his client was a doctor and had nothing do with any criminal and terrorism activities and presently running a private clinic.
He said be cause of the uncalled for and illegal act of police, the petitioner was facing hardships in continuing his medical profession as he had to leave his patients unattended to appear before the police station where he was detained for several hours for interrogation.
The provincial law officer submitted a letter of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station in which he recommended keeping the petitioner’s in Fourth Schedule of the ATA for his links to al-Qaeda. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Syed Mohammad Farooq Shah directed the provincial law officer to inform the court about the present status of Dr Waheed’s reference and adjourned the hearing till March 3.
Dr Akmal was earlier accused of having links to al-Qaeda, attacking the Karachi corps commander’s convoy in 2004 and financially aiding and harbouring activists of the banned Jundullah outfit. However, he was cleared of these charges. Dr Akmal’s brother, Dr Arshad Waheed was killed in a US missile attack on March 16, 2008 in Wana, South Waziristan.
On March 7, 2004, the Karachi police had arrested the two brothers after the cell phone numbers of the two doctors were found in terrorist Ata-ur Rehman’s cell phone. Dr Akmal and Dr Arshad were suspected of assisting wanted militants to escape from the authorities and providing medical treatment to three fugitives, Abu Massab, Gul Hasan and Qassam-al-Sani.