ISLAMABAD: For many families across the country ravaged by terrorism and sectarian strife, this year’s Eid brought no joy. Among such households are three families of former and current inmates of the infamous prison at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.

Ammanatullah Ali had been detained in Bagram since 2003. Originally from Jaranawala, he has a sister and six brothers and is married with five children of his own.

In 2003, he was picked up from Iraq, where he claims he had gone for Ziarat. His family did not hear from him for six months, until the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) informed them that Amanat was imprisoned at Bagram Airbase.

The family tried to secure his release any way they could. In 2011, Amanat’s brother, Abdul Razzaq, hand-delivered a letter to the foreign secretary explaining the circumstances of Amanat’s detention. He asked the Pakistani government to secure his brother’s return. Abdul never received a response to this letter.

Three families’ lives changed forever by the infamous Afghan prison

In November 2011, Razzaq heard from the Detainee Review Board at Bagram, who told him prison authorities were ready to release Amanat and that Razzaq should urge the Pakistani government to repatriate him.

Abdul contacted the Pakistani government and was informed that Amanat would be repatriated within three to four days. However, that never happened and Amanat continues to remain detained at Bagram.

This year, the family’s hopes were raised again when they were contacted by the ICRC and told that Amanat was one of 11 Pakistani inmates slated for release before this Eid, Razzaq told Dawn. But the list was later revised down to 10 men and Amanat’s name was left out. “I’ve been taking care of Amanat's wife and children, as well as our widowed mother and brother. My father and one of my brothers have passed away and I'm the only one providing for all these people,” he told Dawn over the phone from his home in Faisalabad.

“We haven’t seen him in nearly 11 years. All we want is for him to come home. His children need a father, I need my brother to help me support the family,” he said.

While Amanat still flounders across the border, 28-year-old Iftikhar Ahmed has managed to make it back to Pakistan. Hailing from Pakpattan, Iftikhar was taken into custody from Balochistan, where the family claims he was working on water projects near Quetta.

He went missing around February 2010. The family worried for months, then in June of the same year, they heard from the ICRC that he was imprisoned in Bagram.

According to his family, Iftikhar has a history of mental illness and the experience in one of the world's most notorious prisons, they fear, may have done irreparable damage to his already fragile mind.

He was repatriated to Pakistan on May 15 of this year, but is currently detained at a facility in Sahiwal. His lawyers have petitioned the Lahore High Court for his release on humanitarian grounds and on July 24, Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan ordered the Punjab government to transfer him to a mental health facility.

His wife Fatima, who had been married to Iftikhar only a few months when the two were separated, has been fighting for her husband's release.

Visibly emotional, Fatima told Dawn that her house had not felt any joy in four and a half years. “I ask you, how can a house without people remain a home? After a while, it seems hollow and empty,” she said.

She currently lives with Iftikhar’s brother in another village in Pakpattan and despite her efforts to secure his release, she is not too hopeful that she will get to see her husband again.

“I threw away all my bangles and nice things. I beseech the government to give him back to me, that's all. I’ll take care of him. I won’t make any claims for compensation either,” she says, at the end of her tether.

Displaced on return

Perhaps most bittersweet is the story of North Waziristan-resident Abdul Sattar, who was released from Bagram earlier this year after serving three years. He found out about his impending return to Pakistan only a day before it happened.

But in a cruel twist of fate, by the time Sattar was released from his detention on Pakistani soil, the military operation in North Waziristan had begun and those living in the area were forced to flee.

Sattar told Dawn that after his release, he had joined his family in Swabi, where they had rented a three-room house for Rs5000/month. He and his family share this space with his father, three brothers and their families.

Speaking to Dawn on the phone from Swabi, Sattar said he was terribly homesick for his house in Razmak. “The recent rains have ruined everything that was left behind when my family fled the area,” he said.

Shahab Siddiqi, spokesperson for Justice Project Pakistan – the organisation that represents the Bagram detainees in court – told Dawn that at least 24 more Pakistanis were languishing in the notorious prison, but this number is not independently verifiable.

“This estimate is based on numbers disclosed by the Pakistani government in February 2012, so we fear that the number may be higher. The lack of transparency around this information, there is a risk of Pakistan citizens ‘disappearing’ without being according their legal rights.”

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd , 2014