ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday disposed of a petition filed by the father of a death row convict in the Bannu jailbreak case.

Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi while hearing the petition filed by Mir Shah Khan, the father of Tahir, seeking copy of the military court trial proceedings and a meeting with his son observed that the petition was infructuous.

On Thursday, the IHC had issued a stay order against the execution of the convict after the standing counsel informed the court that the ministry of interior needed at least 15 days to trace his whereabouts. The court then adjourned the hearing till October 5. However, after issuance of the stay order when the standing counsel for the federal government, Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan, gathered more information from the ministries of interior and defence and passed it on to Justice Qureshi, the court fixed the matter for Friday.

When the matter was taken up on Thursday, the standing counsel informed the court that the convict had been detained in the Kohat Jail. He said the family members may meet the convict as per the rules given in the jail manual.

Raja Khalid also told the court that a military court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had convicted Tahir on three charges. “In addition to the Bannu jailbreak, Tahir was charged with twice attacking the FC posts,” he said.

As per the report of the defence ministry, in April 2012 more than 200 heavily-armed Taliban militants travelling in several vehicles attacked the central jail Bannu and freed 381 prisoners, including Adnan Rashid, allegedly involved in attacking former president Pervez Musharraf.

Raja Khalid said the chief of army staff (COAS) had approved the death sentence awarded to Tahir by the military court on September 2. He said the convict had filed an appeal against his conviction with the military appellate court.

“The appeal has been filed with the appellate court from the jail in accordance with the rules, and the proceedings on the appeal are likely to commence soon,” he added.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Qureshi observed that since the remedy of appeal for the convict was available, the petition may be disposed of. The court also observed that as Tahir had been convicted by the military court of KP, the petitioner might have approached the Peshawar High Court (IHC).

The petitioner claimed that his son’s trial was conducted in the military court without providing him an opportunity of defence. He alleged that the military authorities had denied access to him to meet his death-row son which was a violation of fundamental right.

He also claimed that Tahir was abducted in February 2014 by some unknown people and the matter was reported to the Bannu police.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2015

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