PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Monday stayed execution of a militant and suspended the death sentence awarded to him by a military court on account of attacking security forces which had resulted in death of some personnel.

The bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued notices to the ministries of defence and interior and sought record of the case after preliminary arguments in a writ petition filed by a resident of Swat, Ameer Rehman, challenging the conviction of his son, Nadir Khan.

The bench fixed Oct 3 for next hearing.

The petitioner claimed that his son was innocent and was falsely implicated in the cases mentioned by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistan Army, against him.

He alleged that his son was taken into custody in 2009 and had remained a missing person and now they came to know that he was convicted by a military court.

The ISPR in a press release issued on May 5 announced the conviction of 11 ‘hardcore terrorists’ by the military courts, including the present detainee, and confirmation of their sentences by the army chief.

The ISPR had stated that the convict was a member of proscribed organisation. It was added that he was involved in attacking armed forces of Pakistan which had resulted in death of Havaldar Mohammad Ismail along with a soldier.

It was claimed that he was also found in possession of fire-arms and explosives. The ISPR stated that the convict had confessed his offences before the judicial magistrate and the trial court.

Advocate Furqan Khan Yousafzai appeared for the petitioner and said his client had surrendered to the security forces at Shah Dehri area in Swat in 2009 and was shifted to unknown location after which he had remained incommunicado.

He claimed that on Sept 13 his family members met him at Kohat Internment Centre where he told his father that he had been convicted by a military court and was sentenced to death.

He argued that the detainee was not given a fair trial. He questioned how he could be tried by the military court when the occurrences had taken place many years before the setting up of these courts.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018