Home dept gets notice over BLA activist’s detention under terror law

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the provincial advocate general, the home department and others on a petition against the detention of a banned organisation’s activist, who was recently released in the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) car bombing case, for another three months under the anti-terrorism law.

Petitioner Aziza Naeem challenged her son-in-law Abdul Hameed Bugti’s detention under Section 11-EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act for 90 days. She said Bugti had been in prison for the past 14 years over the PIDC car bombing and was exonerated by the SHC on April 9 due to lack of evidence.

She said the prison authorities had refused to release him and had detained him under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), adding that after the MPO’s expiry the home department had detained him for another 90 days under the anti-terrorism law. She requested that the detention order be set aside and he be released if not required in any other case.

After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi observed that the points raised in the petition required consideration, and issued notices to the advocate general, the prosecutor general, the home department and others, asking them to file their comments on August 7.

The home secretary had earlier filed a report mentioning that the representation of the detainee, who had an affiliation with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), had been dismissed on May 14.

He said that it was apprehended by the law enforcement agencies that if Bugti was not detained under the preventive detention law, he would abscond from the judicial process and indulge in activities prejudicial to security and he was likely to pose a grave threat to public safety and cause a breach of peace and tranquillity.

Harassment plea

The SHC directed the Artillery Maidan SHO to respond to the allegations levelled by civil society activists against their confinement at the police station for holding a protest for the release of allegedly missing persons.

Inam Abbasi, Mohib Ali and other petitioners claimed that they were illegally taken into custody by the Artillery Maidan police while they were protesting at the Karachi Press Club on June 27 for the release of “missing” persons.

They said that civil rights activists were protesting against the allegedly enforced disappearance of Sindhi persons from different parts of the province, and their right to protest could not be denied.

They requested the court to direct the police officials to take action against the SHO for unlawfully confining them at the police station for an hour, and restrain the police from harassing them.

After the initial hearing of the petition, the court issued notices to the advocate general and others, and directed the SHO to appear in court to respond to the allegations levelled against him.