PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday took great exception to the denial of death certificate of a Lakki Marwat internment centre detainee to his family and asked the provincial government to hold payment of salary to the facility’s head for it.

Also, Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan expressed annoyance over the failure of the internment centre’s head to show up and issued his bailable arrest warrants.

They observed that the court had issued many directives for the production of death certificate of the internee, Payo Gul, but none of them had been complied with.

The bench was hearing a petition of Kurram Agency’s Gulmath Khan, the internee’s father.

The petitioner alleged that his son, Payo Gul, was taken into custody by the law-enforcement agencies in Orakzai Agency on Nov 3, 2011, only 15 days after his marriage.

He insisted his son remained missing for many months before he learned about his detention at Lakki Marwat internment centre.

The petitioner claimed that the representatives of internment centre handed over his son’s body to him on Nov 28, 2013 saying he’d died a natural death.

He said his son owned a shop in Orakzai Agency and that the entire family depended on his income.

The petitioner said when his son was taken into custody, his car and other valuables were also taken away but the political administration of Orakzai Agency was reluctant to return the said items on the pretext of their failure to produce the son’s death certificate.

He said the head of the internment centre had been denying him the death certificate.

Since July this year, the court has issued directives to the head of the Lakki Marwat internment centre to provide the petitioner with his son’s autopsy report and death certificate, but to no avail.

At the start of the hearing, the bench asked if the head of the internment centre was in attendance.

However, additional advocate general Waqar Ahamad replied in negative to the anger of the bench, which ordered the attachment of the salary of the internment centre.

It later adjourned the hearing, whose schedule will be announced afterwards.

REPORT ON DISAPPEARANCE ORDERED: The bench also directed the Chamkani police station SHO to produce a comprehensive report of the disappearance and killing of a missing person, who was allegedly taken away from the Peshawar Central Prison before being killed.

The body of the person was later found near Peshawar.

Petitioner Asadullah said his brother, Roohullah, was arrested by Chamkani police station personnel in a case of terrorism.

He claimed that Roohullah was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar but he was later implicated in another case of terrorism.

The petitioner said he was granted bail in the case and was taken by personnel of an intelligence agency from outside the prison few months ago after he stepped out for release.

He said the body of his brother was later found dumped at a deserted place in Khyber Agency.

The petitioner alleged that the local police had been pressurising him to withdraw the case.

The bench directed the Chamkani police station SHO to respond to the allegations, too.

In another case about an internee, the bench adjourned hearing until Dec 20 after the AAG produced report of an oversight board and said the detainee had been declared ‘black’.

Petitioner Fazal Kareem said his brother, Yahya, was taken into custody by law-enforcement agencies few months ago before he was shifted to an internment centre.

The AAG said the relevant oversight board had prepared a report about the internee that he was declared ‘black’ suggesting there was evidence of his involvement in acts of terrorism.

As the petitioner’s lawyer was not available, the bench adjourned hearing into the case.

Published in Dawn, November 19th , 2014