KARACHI, Feb 2: The mystery surrounding the nationality and religious identity of a detainee lodged at present in Central Prison, Karachi, deepened on Friday when the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town police office informed the Supreme Court that it had no record of the alleged report about the loss of his national identity card in 1995.
Abdul Hannan, son of Mohammad Anwarullah, was arrested as Indian national Kishan Lal, son of Mohan Lal, while on a visit to Lahore in August 1997 and has remained behind bars since.
He claimed that he was a resident of Ziaul Haq Colony, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi, but in 1995 lost the national identity card issued to him in 1988. The loss was reported to the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station, he claimed.
The detainee addressed a complaint to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who converted it into a petition and commenced proceedings on it in the human rights jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
The court called for reports from the National Database and Registration Authority, the Punjab inspector-general of police and the superintendent of the Lahore jail, where he was kept for years before his shifting to the Karachi prison, and also the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police.In its statement submitted to a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Rana Bhahwandas, Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Hamid Ali Mirza on Friday, Nadra requested a copy of the lost card ‘for doing the needful’.
The court had asked Nadra whether an identity card was issued to the detainee in June 1988 as claimed by him and, if so, what were his particulars.
Nadra apparently is unable to comply with the court’s direction in the absence of a copy of the lost card.
The Gulshan-i-Iqbal town police officer said there was no record of a complaint lodged by the detainee about his lost identity card. The Punjab prisons chief and the Lahore jail superintendent submitted their reports, which were brought on record.
In view of the reports, the SC bench directed the Sindh home secretary to conduct a ‘detailed’ inquiry into the detainee’s claim that he was a resident of Ziaul Haq Colony, Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
The detainee, who was produced before the bench, was asked to point out the place of his residence to the inquiry team.
According to Abdul Hanan, he was picked up from Data Darbar, Lahore, and was ‘illegally’ sent for trial before a magistrate,
who convicted and sentenced him to a year’s rigorous imprisonment.
On December 12, 1998, he was produced before the federal review board in Lahore, which authorized his detention for one month so that an inquiry could be held into the question of his nationality.
In April 1999, he was transferred from the Central Jail, Lahore, to the Central Prison, Karachi, for three days to enable an Indian consular mission to identify him. The Indian officials refused to acknowledge him as an Indian national and he was sent back to Lahore.
On December 22, 2001, the detainee was again produced before the federal review board, which ‘accepted’ his identity as Abdul Hanan and ordered his production again on January 5, 2002.
He was shifted to the Karachi prison on January 3, 2002, and was not produced before the board. On November 27, 2005, he was shifted back to Lahore where he was interviewed by an Indian high commission official in April 2006.
The official declined to acknowledge him as an Indian citizen and refused his deportation.
He was neither released, nor deported nor produced before the review board.
He is to remain in the Karachi jail till the probe into his nationality is pending.
