ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday admitted a petition seeking registration of FIR against the station chief of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Jonathan Banks, for launching a drone attack at the petitioner’s house, allegedly killing his teenage son and brother.

Mr Khan, a native of North Waziristan, has been seeking to register an FIR against the CIA station chief since December 31, 2009 when the strike was carried out.

Mr Khan through his counsel Mirza Shahzad Akbar had also filed a petition with the additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ), Wajid Ali, for registration of FIR against Mr Banks but the judge on April 11 this year dismissed the petition.

In his order the judge said that the court could not pass an order as the offence was “actually committed within the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata)”.

Khan then filed an appeal against the order of ADSJ before IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui.

He said Mr Banks managed to throw a Global Positioning System (GPS) device at the petitioner’s ancestral house in village Machi Khel in North Waziristan and then ordered a drone strike at his house.

According to the counsel, Mr Banks was stationed in Islamabad and was handling all drone strikes.

The counsel insisted before the court that under the law an FIR against Mr Banks could be registered in Islamabad.

IHC Justice Siddiqui after preliminary hearing of the petition issued notice to Secretariat police SHO and directed him to submit reply on the next date of hearing to be fixed by the registrar office and adjourned the case.

Earlier, the petitioner, Karim Khan, was due to testify before the European Parliament against the US drone attacks in February this year but he went missing just days before his scheduled appearance in the parliament.

He was recovered after the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench took cognizance of the disappearance.