PHC seeks death certificate of Afghan internee

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday sought the death certificate of an Afghan internee who died in custody at the internment centre in Kohat.He had been declared a hardcore militant.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan informed Shahida Bibi, wife of the deceased Qari Muhammad Anwar that her husband had died at the internment centre as per the report of the oversight board.
She was told that his body was handed over to the Municipal Committee Kohat for burial.The bench observed that as per the report the internee hailing from Afghanistan was involved in many terrorist activities.
Shahida Bibi, who is an Afghan refugee and is currently living in Peshawar, appeared before the court along with her two minor children. At the court, she learnt about her husband’s death at the internment centre and his subsequent burial.
The woman had filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court. In the petition, she had alleged that security personnel along with the station house officer of the Tehkal Police Station picked up her husband in a raid on her house on April 5, 2013. He was later shifted to the internment centre in Kohat.
In another case, the court issued a notice to Pesco officials and in-charge internment centre Kohat about the death of a Pesco official at the Kohat internment centre. He was allegedly picked up by the security forces in 2011.
Muhammad Arif Jan, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the relatives had received body of Hazrat Shah, a resident of Kabal tehsil in Swat, on July 15, 2014. He said he was a lineman and had worked for 27 years in Pesco, but was terminated due to his absence.
He said the relatives of the deceased wanted pension, employment and Shaheed Package as he was killed in the custody of the security forces. Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday put on notice high-ups of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department in a writ petition filed against out-of-order Computerised Tomography (CT) scan and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines at the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).
A two-member bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain Khan and Justice Lal Jan Khattak issued notices to secretary and director general of the Health Department and HMC chief executive. The officials were directed to explain their position about dysfunctional machines before March 11 which was the next hearing of the case.
Muhammad Essa Khan, president of PHC Bar Association, and Akhtar Ilyas, a member of the bar, filed the writ petition. They made the provincial government through secretary health, director general health, HMC chief executive, medical superintendent and NAB head respondents. The petitioners stated that the machines at the HMC are out-of-order and the patients are constrained to turn to other laboratories for the tests.