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PESHAWAR: Voicing annoyance with the government agencies’ performance over missing person cases, the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the Frontier Corps to conduct a high-level inquiry into the alleged enforced disappearance of two brothers from their school in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency over a year ago. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk warned that it should not be forced to order registration of cases against heads of intelligence agencies under relevant provisions of Pakistan Penal Code for keeping citizens in illegal confinement.
While the court had summoned the Inspector General of Frontier Corps, another official Major Zafar showed dup stating that a clash had taken place between militants and security forces at Central Kurrum Agency and the IG had gone there.
Major Zafar expressed ignorance about whereabouts of the two brothers, Nazeem and Mohammad Ijaz, who were allegedly taken away from their Lal Jan Kalae school in January 2011. He added that FC had asked intelligence agencies about the two but was told that they were not with them.
The chief justice observed the court won’t tolerate such attitude as evidence was available about the taking away of the schoolchildren. He said in some missing persons cases, security forces had expressed ignorance about certain people, who were later shifted to internment centres.
The bench observed that the said school’s headmaster and the relevant education agency officer had appeared before it in one hearing and testified that the security forces had taken them away.
Aurangzeb Khan, counsel for petitioner Shan Bibi, mother of the two missing persons, contended that his client firmly believed that the boys were taken away by Mesud Scouts.
The bench said in its previous hearing, it had ruled that if the two were not produced, a case would be registered against the relevant officials under PPC.
The chief justice observed that under the Constitution, it was the court’s duty to safeguard the people’s fundamental rights and that it won’t let the government agencies illegally take away people and keep them in detention for months and years.
The court directed Major Zafar to ensure the holding of a high-level inquiry into the case besides interrogation of the field commanders who served in that particular area at that time of the two alleged enforced disappearances.
In another case about alleged illegal detention of lawyer Imran Khan, the court summoned another counsel, Fazal Ilahi Khan, who was allegedly present with the detainee when he was taken into custody.
An official of the Judge Advocate General Branch of Pakistan Army, Colonel Noor Ahmad, told the court that the detainee was not in custody of any of their agency. On the court’s query, he said they used to destroy the records regarding duty rosters at the check posts after every three months. However, the court asked how that was possible as the army was an organised and disciplined institution.
The official said it was a standard operation procedure to destroy the record after three months.
Similarly, the bench directed the superintendent of police and assistant superintendent of police, Peshawar cantonment, to trace a missing man, Asghar Ali Shah, within 15 days failing which a case would be registered against them. The detainee was allegedly taken into custody by local police from a car service station a few weeks ago and his whereabouts have been unknown since.
