PESHAWAR, March 8: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the federal government to produce a notification through which security forces were called in aid of civil power in Swat and to inform whether the period of their stay was extended or not.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth directed a deputy attorney general, Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand, to produce the notification to ascertain as to when the government had requested the armed forces to come in aid of civil power in Swat and for how much time they were called.

Hearing several cases of missing persons, the bench directed Mr Mohmand to inform whether the period for which the security forces were called in Swat had expired or not and whether the said period was extended by the government.

The bench also put forward a suggestion to Mr Mohmand that details of those detainees, who were considered not hardened militants and put in categories ‘B’ and ‘C’, should be provided to the court. They would be set free on bail by attaching strict conditions to their release, the bench observed.

The chief justice observed that the said categories of suspects would be made liable to report to the local police station each month and would be ordered not to leave their respective districts without permission of police. It was added that heavy bail bonds would be sought from those suspects.

The chief justice observed that it would help in reducing burden on the security agencies to a great extent.

Mr Mohmand said that he would be having meeting with security high-ups in the afternoon and would convey the suggestion to them.

In one of the cases pertaining to two missing minor brothers from Bara, Khyber Agency, the bench summoned Fata additional chief secretary, directing him to produce record of the case.

The bench fixed Apr 12 for next hearing directing the official to explain why proceedings should not be taken against political administration and all authorities managing and controlling Fata on civil side when they were unable to protect life and liberty of people of that area.

The two boys, Syed Nazeem and Ijaz, who were aged about 11 and 12 years, respectively, were allegedly taken from their school by security forces on Jan 7, 2010, and since then their whereabouts were not known. The petition was filed through their mother, Shan Bibi.

Advocate Auranzeb Khan appeared for the petitioner and stated that the agency education officer and principal of the said school had appeared and informed the court on Oct 13, 2011, that the two boys were taken away by security forces.

The counsel said that a recently released detainee had told them that the two boys were in a detention facility in Peshawar. However, the bench observed that this information was not enough as the released detainee had not been appearing before the court.

The bench disposed of another petition filed by wife of an alleged detainee with the direction to officials of Mingora police station to register an FIR regarding his disappearance.

The petitioner, Anwer Begum, and her sister-in-law Nek Amala had sent an application to the chief justice last year wherein they had stated that their husbands, Akhter Ali and Sher Ali, who are brothers, were picked on May 24, 2009, by security forces in Swat following which there whereabouts were not known.

While the petition was pending the detainee Sher Ali was set free whereas Akhter Ali was still been missing. Sher Ali appeared on Thursday and stated that he was kept at Pak Austrian Institute for Tourism and Hotel Management at Swat. However, he added he was not sure where his brother was kept.

In another petition the DAG said that the detainee Mohammad Jamil had been shifted to internment centre. The petition in this regard is filed by mother of the detainee, Gul Ikhtiara, stating that his son was taken into custody on May 13, 2011, at Zareef Korona area in Charsadda.

The bench directed the DAG to verify in which of the internment centre he had now been kept and convey the same to the petitioner so that they could adopt future legal course in that regard.

Meanwhile, in another petition the bench directed provincial home secretary to produce copy of the minutes of an apex committee meeting held last month on the order of the high court for discussing the issue of missing persons.

The petition is filed by a resident of Shabqadar, Izzat Khan, claiming that his 15-year-old son Arab Gul, whose right leg was paralysed, was taken into custody by officials of Frontier Corps around 10 months ago when he was going to the residence of his brother near Warsak area.