KARACHI, Jan 25: A Sindh High Court division bench reserved its order on Tuesday in a writ petition challenging the confinement of 'doctor brothers' under the preventive detention provisions of the Anti-Terrorist Act.
The petition was moved by Dr Fauzia Akmal and Dr Farzana Naz, the wives of Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed, through Advocate M. Ilyas Khan in the first week of December. The petitioners alleged that the detention was meant to prevent their spouses' release on bail as ordered by the high court on Dec 2.
The bench, comprising Justices Ataur Rahman and Zia Pervez, which was subsequently assigned the petition, reserved its order after hearing the petitioners' counsel and Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan in detail and viewing a video film in chamber.
The AG showed the film in chamber on Tuesday afternoon in support of his contention that the detainees had close links to three banned terrorist outfits. The law officer stated earlier that the doctors were not formal members of Al Qaeda, Jundullah and Hizbul Tehrir but they provided their activists all manner of assistance.
The film, he said, could not be shown in open court as it was 'confidential'. It contained material about others involved in terrorist activities and its public screening would harm the campaign against terrorism.
The bench asked the petitioners' counsel to remain available in the courtroom as it viewed the film in chamber. Advocate Ilyas Khan earlier argued that the impugned detention order violated two constitutional safeguards ensured to a detainee.
The doctor brothers were not furnished grounds of their detention and were not given an opportunity of making a representation. The notification, including their names in the ATA schedule as associates of the banned organizations and the detention order, were issued simultaneously and they had no option but to invoke the high court's writ jurisdiction.
The AG questioned the maintainability of the petition on the ground that the detainees failed to represent against notification of their names in the ATA schedule or the order for their detention and the petitioners came straight to the high court without availing ordinary legal remedies. The detaining authority was required to communicate 'the grounds' and not 'the facts' that led to their arrest and detention, he maintained.
NAZIMS' CASE: Another bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Zia Pervez, meanwhile, adjourned the petition moved by the relieved nazims of the four bifurcated districts against their replacement by the district coordination officers.
The special bench, which took up the petition during winter vacation, could not assemble as Justice Zia Pervez was busy hearing the doctors' detention case as member of a regular division bench. The hearing will now resume on Wednesday.
