KARACHI, July 25: The federal government and its three functionaries submitted on Tuesday their comments on a contempt petition alleging that they had failed to comply with a court order to watch and ensure the well-being of a local businessman detained by US authorities.
The counsel for the detainee’s petitioner wife, Nisar A. Mujahid, termed the comments contradictory, and a division bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui allowed him to file rejoinders and affidavits to counter the assertions made by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and the foreign and cabinet secretaries on oath by August 9, when the petition would again come up for hearing.
Petitioner Farhat Paracha said in her petition that her husband, Saifullah Paracha, was picked up either on his arrival at Bangkok or while on his way from Karachi to the Thai capital, where he was invited by his American business partner, on July 5, 2003. She moved a petition for his production but she received a message from Saifullah Paracha through the International Committee of Red Cross while it was still pending.
The message said he was being detained at the US air force base at Bagram, Afghanistan, for his alleged links with Al Qaeda and was being looked after at the detention camp. She produced the message in the court and the petition was disposed of in September 2003 with the direction to the federal authorities to watch his interests and ensure his well-being.
The petitioner alleged that the federal authorities did not comply with the direction and Saifullah Paracha was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay prison in 2004. US President George Bush recently announced the closure of the prison and repatriation of the prisoners to their home secretaries. She feared that her husband might never be deported to Pakistan and might be tried and convicted in the United States like their son, Uzair Paracha, who was found guilty of attempt to facilitate an Al Qaeda operative enter the US and carry out subversive activities. Uzair had gone to the US for studies. She requested to try the foreign minister and the foreign and cabinet secretaries for contempt.
The three functionaries filed their comments along with affidavits through their Islamabad-based counsel on Tuesday. Comments were also submitted on behalf of the federation by Deputy Attorney-General Akhtar Ali Mahmood. The petitioner’s counsel pointed out that according to the comments and affidavits, senior officials of the ministry of foreign affairs made a ‘consular’ visit to the Guantanamo Bay prison to inquire about the well-being of the Pakistanis detained there in August 2002.
He said Saifullah was picked up in July 2003 and any visit made before his arrest and custody could not be described as compliance with the court order of September 2003. The detainee was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2004.
He said it was difficult to give any credence to the government claim that the matter had been taken up with the US authorities at different times, the latest discussion being as recent as July 10 when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Islamabad. The bench asked the counsel to file a rejoinder by August 9 and adjourned the proceedings to that date.
