PESHAWAR: The defence ministry on Wednesday requested the Peshawar High Court to dismiss a petition against the federal government’s alleged plan to give clemency to the former spokesman for the banned militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, saying crackdown and investigation against terrorists on the revelations of Ehsanullah Ehsan was underway.

In a written response to the petition of an Army Public School Peshawar student’s father, the defence ministry told the bench consisting of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Nasir Mehfooz that it would handle the issue of Ehsanullah Ehsan in line with the law.

It said the petition should be dismissed for being ‘without merit and in a premature stage’.

Defence ministry says it’ll handle Ehsanullah Ehsan issue in line with the law

The reply was submitted by the attorney general’s office on behalf of the defence ministry.

The bench was hearing the petition of Fazal Khan, father of one of many APC students, who were killed by the TTP militants during the 2014 attack on campus.

The bench directed Barrister Amirullah Chamkani, lawyer for the petitioner, to prepare his arguments on the point whether the high court had the powers to stop the federal government from awarding clemency to any person.

The lawyer said he had received the reply of the defence ministry on Wednesday and would address the court on next date on that reply as well as the query put before him by the court.

The petitioner has requested the court to order the trial of Ehsanullah Ehsan, who is in the custody of security agencies, by a military court for different acts of militancy, including the APS carnage.

The petitioner, whose son Sahibzada Umar Khan was killed in the APS incident, requested the court to direct the respondents, including the federal government, to refrain from giving clemency to Ehsanullah Ehsan.

He prayed the court to declare that Ehsanullah be tried by a military court expeditiously and that he being a person affected by the 2014 carnage be formally informed about the findings of the trial thereafter.

The respondents in the petition are federal government through interior secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through chief secretary, defence ministry through defence secretary, Inter-Services Intelligence director general, chief of the army staff, and law and human rights ministry through its secretary.

Barrister Amirullah Chamkani, lawyer for the petitioner, said 148 students and staff members, including eighth grader son of the petitioner, had lost lives in the Dec 16, 2014, APS attack.

He added that the TTP had victoriously claimed responsibility for the attack next day through Ehsanullah Ehsan and announced plans to carry out more such attacks.

The petitioner claimed that after a long period of almost three years, one of the masterminds of the APS incident, Ehsanullah Ehsan alias Tariq, had surrendered or was captured by the law-enforcement agencies, which had given some hope to him (petitioner) that the perpetrators of the APS incident would be brought to justice.

He however said unfortunately to his utmost surprise and disappointment, Ehsanullah Ehsan far from being brought to justice was being portrayed as an ‘unaware, innocent and brainwashed’ man, who had inadvertently masterminded the APS carnage and many other terrorist activities in the country, especially in KP.

The petitioner claimed that he had learned through reliable sources that clemency was on the cards for Ehsanullah Ehsan for his ‘full and frank disclosure’ and that the government’s possible move was not only highly deplorable but also illegal and unconstitutional.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017