Islamabad HC expresses resentment over non-registration of FIR

ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here on Tuesday expressed resentment over non-compliance of the court orders regarding registration of FIR against drone attack and directed Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Islamabad to appear before it on Wednesday (today).
The IHC bench expressed dissatisfaction with an eight pages report submitted by the IGP Islamabad giving reasons as to why an FIR in this case could not be registered.The IHC observed that the citizens were killed like insects and there was none to give them justice.
The matter is pertaining to an IHC order dated June 5, 2014 when the same IHC bench directed Secretariat Police Station to register FIR against the former CIA officials for their alleged involvement in drone attacks in the matter of a North Waziristan resident Kareem Khan whose brother and a son died in a drone strike in 2009 in North Waziristan.
After the Islamabad police did not register the FIR, Kareem Khan through his lawyer Mirza Shehzad Akbar had filed a contempt of court petition that was heard today (Tuesday).
The above said eight pages report Islamabad police submitted in compliance of IHC’s order dated February 9. Islamabad police submitted before the IHC copies of the judgments of Peshawar High Court (PHC) in similar cases. Islamabad police submitted that this was a diplomatic issue and the CIA chief at that time had diplomatic immunity.
If Islamabad police registered an FIR even then it could not investigate the matter. It could not even do postmortem of the bodies because those were buried in Fata. Islamabad police report said that the IHC bench had directed the police to act as per law and in this regard, an incident could only be registered within territorial jurisdiction. According to the law, the FIR of this case could be registered with Fata secretariat and Islamabad police had already forwarded the matter to Fata secretariat.
A standing counsel representing federal government requested the court to hear this case in chamber, as the IGP Islamabad wanted to brief about some sensitive issues involving this case. Standing counsel also requested the court to seek version from the Foreign Office, as this was a diplomatic issue.
IHC bench while hearing in this case observed that the government had no importance for the killings of its innocent civilians. In tribal areas people were killed like insects. Affected people of drone attacks did not demand arrests of particular persons but they wanted to register their grievances, Justice Siddiqui said.
Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan Agency had lost his teenage son Zahinullah and a brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary school teacher in Mir Ali, in a drone strike on 31st December 2009. Kareem Khan is a native of Machi Khel, Mir Ali of North Waziristan and he filed an application for FIR with the Secretariat Police Station of Islamabad in 2010. Secretariat police refused to lodge the FIR and Kareem Khan then filed a case under section 22-A with the civil court of Islamabad while praying that the police might be directed to register the FIR.
A civil judge of Islamabad dismissed the application in December 2013 citing lack of jurisdiction as the reason. Kareem Khan then filed an appeal with the IHC when the court on June 5, 2014 directed police to register the case.The petitioner Kareem Khan was provided with legal aid by the ‘Foundation for Fundamental Rights’ (FFR), a local chapter of an international NGO ‘Reprieve’.