November 14, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 03, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Three ordinary citizens landed in and are languishing in the Adiala Jail, under the non-bailable 3 MPO, for allegedly threatening the society’s peace, although they have neither anything to do with politics nor have ever been to any political demonstration to protest against Gen Musharraf’s emergency proclamation, civil society activists released on bail from the jail disclosed on Tuesday.

These three persons were arrested by the Islamabad Police soon after emergency was imposed, on Nov 3 and were kept in detention at a police station for two days before being shifted to Adiala, on Nov 5.

The government has clamped down on the civil society arresting political workers, lawyers and human rights activists in the aftermath of the agitation against the emergency. However, the police have put common men in the streets behind bars in order to “show performance”.

The released activists identified one of them as Khurram Bhatti, an unemployed young man. The others, they said, were Badar Nauman alias Nomi, a utensil vendor hailing from Wazirabad and a furniture artisan. All three were in Cell No 1 of the Adiala Jail.

While relatives, friends and colleagues of political detainees were struggling to secure their release, most of whom have been arrested under bailable Section 188, there is hardly anyone to even comfort these three poor souls, who are still figure out why they landed in jail.

However, they should still consider themselves luckier than the likes of Nisar Ahmed, chairman fo the Labour Party of Pakistan, who has been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for protesting against the emergency and against the curtailing of human rights.

Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday reluctantly released three civil society activists jailed in the Adiala prison on bail, after defying the court order for a day.

The three activists detained on Nov 4 while protesting against the imposition of the emergency were granted bail on Monday, after remaining in detention for almost a week. However, this was not enough to win them freedom.

The defiant deputy superintendent jail, Noorul Hassan Baghela, refused to honour the bail and instead told them that only the home secretary’s intervention could help.

Well-wishers of the three activists —Malick Shahbaz, Pervaiz Tufail and Amjad Nazir— then mounted a campaign to secure directives from the home secretary and finally a provincial minister, Raja Basharat, came to their rescue who communicated a message for releasing them to the jail administration.

Tens of civil society activists had gathered outside the Adiala Jail to welcome them.

Mr Shahbaz, one of the released activists, while commenting on his release said he was disappointed to be released after one day’s illegal detention. He was referring to his post-bail detention.

He termed the treatment meted out to the political prisoners jailed for protesting against emergency as disgraceful. Coming out of a week-long confinement, which he described as tough, he said, he and his colleagues were still determined to fight against the emergency and other undemocratic measures.

He revealed that the detained lawyers had nominated one of their colleagues, Rashid Awan, who hails from Balochistan, as their judge to protest against the judges taking oath under the Provision Constitutional Order (PCO).

MPO GAINING NOTORIETY: The Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance of 1960 (MPO) allows detention without charge for up to three months (90 days), but this period can be extended further.

In some instances, in the past, the detention orders under the MPO were found unlawful but only more privileged people could afford to the court fee to challenge such detention orders.

The law has been quite often used against political and religious activists, where the government does not have sufficient evidence to frame charges against persons intended to be incarcerated.