PHC hits out at law-enforcement agencies for delay in probe

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Wednesday that law-enforcement agencies on the one hand were eager for formation of military courts against terrorists and on the other they did not carry out investigation of terror suspects for years.
PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel passed the observations after the statement of Staff Officer of Commissioner Bannu, Muhammad Riaz, saying that oversight boards’ reports in the missing persons, who had been shifted to internment centres, were delayed as security agencies and army officials were not providing data and investigation reports of the internees on time.
The PHC chief justice observed that the court did not want to interfere in the internal affairs of the security forces and agencies, but it should treat the internees under the special law called Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011 for Fata and Pata.
Under the regulation, the oversight board was bound to decide the cases of the detained terrorism suspects within 120 days and prepare report when he was shifted to internment centres.
Presently, the PHC had disposed of cases of a few missing persons after receiving the oversight board reports, while hundreds of internees have been shifted to the centres since years.The division bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Rohul Amin Khan, giving a last chance to commissioner Bannu, said the oversight board reports of internees at internment centres in Kohat and Lakki Marwat should be submitted before the next hearing to be held on February 17.
The PHC had already issued non-bailable arrest warrants against the commissioner Bannu for non-compliance with the court orders regarding submission of oversight board’s reports.During hearing of a detainee’s case, Sarbiland Khan, resident of Bannu, informed the bench that he had handed over his minor son studying in class 8 to the security forces for interrogation six years ago and recently he met him at internment centre in Lakki Marwat.
He said his son was minor when handed over to security forces and now had a long beard. “My son’s education has been destroyed. My life has also ended in courts seeking justice,” he said, adding that if his minor son was involved in terrorist activities, he would have sent him abroad, instead of handing him over to the forces.
The PHC chief justice observed that in most cases the missing persons had been picked up in a similar way as first the security agencies asked the family members that they were wanted for interrogation and would be freed soon, but later they went missing for years.
The bench also disposed of a missing person’s petition after receiving information that relatives had received the detainee Qari Mohtaram Shah’s body from an internment centre in Lakki Marwat on previous Eidul Fitr day.
However, the bench asked the petitioner Khaista Bacha, resident of Swat, to file a civil suit for recovery of his mini-truck in Swat seized by military personnel and then used for its own activities.
The bench also issued notice to ministries of defence and interior and secretary home in fresh seven cases of missing persons, directing them to submit replies in the court before next hearing.