PHC orders CTD to make APS carnage report public

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to make public information of the Army Public School (APS) carnage inquiry report and steps taken during investigation.

The court also asked the spokesperson for the provincial and federal governments in the missing persons’ cases to inform the ministries of Defence and Interior to share the information and steps taken after the APS carnage with the parents of the students martyred in the December 2014 attack. A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the directions to the CTD, which investigated the APS incident.

“You (respondents) are public functionaries. You have to inform the public about the steps taken in such a public importance case and information of the inquiry report,” the chief justice asked Muhammad Fazil, an investigation officer of CTD, and Additional Advocate General, Qaiser Ali Shah, representing the provincial government in the case.

“It is the duty of the execution agency to satisfy the public with the steps taken in such cases. The CTD DIG, after giving a reading to the inquiry report in consultation with Investigation Officer of the case [should] make public the steps taken during investigation and information of the inquiry report,” the order stated.

As far as the provision of record of the case is concerned, petitioner, Ajun Khan, father of student Asfand Khan martyred in the APS attack, can approach the Right to Information Commission under the RTI Act 2013.

About the constitution of judicial inquiry in the APS carnage, the bench observed that it was not the constitutional mandate of the high court to order formation of a judicial commission. The court ruled that the executive (provincial government) could ask for the constitution of the judicial inquiry.

However, the bench stated that the court would forward the demand of the petitioner to the provincial government and it was up to the government to consider or not the demand for formation of the judicial inquiry. During hearing, lawyer Ajun Khan submitted before the bench that he had two demands.

He said his first demand was that the court should direct the government to make public the information of the inquiry report of the APS carnage as it was the fundamental right of the students and their parents to know about it. He argued that the non-communication of that information amounted to the violation of fundamental rights of the parents, including him.

Ajun Khan submitted that the court ordered formation of the judicial inquiry in the APS attack case. In the petition, he claimed that necessary action to counter the threat was not taken by the administration.

He said whether that was an act of criminal negligence or some secret mission or conspiracy that such a sensitive information or intelligence report was ignored. He argued that this resulted into the unforgettable incident of the terrorist attack on APS on December 16, 2014 that caused the martyrdom of 147 persons, including 122 students.