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| February 22, 2007 | Thursday | Safar 4, 1428 |
ISI says it’s unaware of former Camp X-Ray inmate’s arrest
PESHAWAR, Feb 21: The Inter-Services Intelligence has expressed ignorance before the Peshawar High Court about the re-arrest of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abdur Rahim Muslim Dost.
Deputy Attorney-General Salahuddin Khan stated before a bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Saleem Khan that he had inquired from the intelligence agency and it had expressed ignorance about the whereabouts of the man.
The bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Sayed Mohammad, brother of the alleged detainee, stating that he had been picked up by officials of the Crimes Investigation Department (CID) and the ISI on Sept 29 from Academy Town.
Muslim Dost and his brother Badrzaman Badar had been arrested by a Pakistani intelligence agency and handed over to the United States a few years ago. They had been shifted to Guantanamo by the US authorities and released after being kept in detention there.
After the statement of the DAG, the petitioner’s counsel Kamran Arif sought time for seeking instruction from his client.
He stated that the intelligence agencies had not been cooperating with the court.
Mr Arif, who is vice-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, stated that in almost every case of ‘disappearance’ the DAG had been giving identical statements.
He added that even in the case of a detainee, Ali Sher, he had given the same statement, but later on the man had been released by the same agency.
The bench inquired from Mr Salahuddin from whom he had received the information. The DAG stated that he had contacted a major in the ISI who had informed him that the detainee had not been picked by the agency.
The bench adjourned hearing directing the counsel to seek instruction from the petitioner.
A few months ago, the detainee and his brother had co-authored a book, Da Guantanamo Mate Zolanae (The broken shackles of Guantanamo).
In the book they had criticised the role of Pakistani intelligence agencies in the ‘war on terror’ and written how they had been severely tortured during custody of Pakistani and US officials.
The respondents in the petition are the federation of Pakistan through the defence secretary, the state through the advocate-general and the NWFP police chief.
The petitioner stated that he was elder brother of Muslim Dost, who is an Afghan writer and poet. He stated that during the Afghan jihad the alleged detainee had edited several magazines published from Peshawar by an Afghan religious organisation and he had authored 37 books.
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