PHC issues arrest warrant for Bannu commissioner

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for commissioner Bannu for non-compliance with court orders about the submission of reports of oversight board on missing persons shifted to the internment centre in Lakki Marwat.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan also attached the salaries of commissioner Bannu and in-charge of the internment centre in Lakki Marwat for non-compliance with the court orders.
The PHC chief justice had fixed the cases of 17 missing persons languishing in the internment centre Lakki Marwat for Wednesday with the direction to the commissioner Bannu, who is head of an oversight board, to submit the report about the charges against the internees and their status.
During the course of hearing, Additional Advocate General Qaiser Ali Shah informed the bench that the commissioner Bannu has failed to submit the report of the oversight board and has sought more time.
The bench expressed concern over the delay in submitting of report and non-compliance with court orders. The bench issued non-bailable arrest warrants for commissioner Bannu and fixed February 18 for next hearing.
The bench also disposed of the cases of three missing persons, including Muhammad Khaliq, Sharif Khan and Niamat Gul, after the additional advocate general submitted a report stating their cases were under investigation as they were allegedly involved in terrorism.
The bench re-issued orders for the submission of oversight board reports in the cases of the internees languishing in the internment centre in Lakki Marwat for many years. The detainees include a PhD student of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan and the student of a seminary.
Hafiz Abdul Wakeel, a resident of Peshawar, had filed habeas corpus petition claiming that the law-enforcing agencies on March 23, 2013 picked up his nephew Awais Mustafa, a PhD student.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Nazir Ahmad submitted before the bench that the missing student has now been shifted to the internment centre in Lakki Marwat and the parents have met him twice, but they wanted to know on what charges he has been detained.
An aged woman Husna, resident of Kabal tehsil in Swat district, appeared in the court and submitted that she received the body of her missing husband Nadir Khan from the internment centre Lakki Marwat an year ago.
She said her only son Idrees was still languishing at the internment centre in Lakki Marwat. She stated that her husband and son were innocent as they were labourers and the personnel of secret agencies had picked them up from Rawalpindi four years back.
In another case, a man Mujahid, claimed that his son Minhajuddin was picked up by the military personnel some five years ago. He said his son was later taken to the internment centre in Lakki Marwat, but the authorities are not allowing him to meet him.
Another elderly man claimed in his petition that the military personnel had picked up his son Khaliq Niaz, who was the student of a seminary, from Bannu district some five years back and took him to the internment centre Lakki Marwat.