PESHAWAR: The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court against the detention of its 133 workers in the province and sought orders for the provincial government to release them and not to make more arrests.

In the petition, TLP provincial chief Falak Niaz requested the court to order the recovery of its 133 workers from the ‘illegal and unlawful’ custody of the government by declaring their detention illegal and unconstitutional.

The petitioner claimed that the party hadn’t been informed about under what law its workers had been detained.

He requested the court to declare null and void the government notification of the detentions in question if any.

As interim relief, the petitioner prayed the court to stop the government from arresting more TLP workers until the final disposal of the petition and issue directions for the right of visitation to the detainees.

The petition filed through lawyers Yousaf Ali and Syed Saud Shah said the 133 TLP workers were taken away from their houses or other places on Nov 23, 24 and 30, before being kept at the Haripur Central Prison.

The respondents in the petition are the interior ministry through its secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home department through its secretary, KP inspector general of police, KP chief secretary, KP inspector general of prisons, and superintendents of Haripur, Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan and Peshawar jails.

The petitioner said the police had made forced entry to the TLP workers’ houses to arrest them.

He said the detainees’ repeated requests to the government and relevant officials to explain the reason for their detention had fallen on deaf ears.

The petitioner said the detained TLP workers had lived a peaceful life and there was no FIR registered against them anywhere in the province.

He added that his party workers were arrested without the issuance of any notification and without giving any opportunity of hearing to them at the time of their ‘illegal’ arrest.

The petitioner said Article 10-A of the Constitution gave the fundamental right of fair trial to everyone accused of committing any illegal activity but no such opportunity was provided to the TLP workers.

He alleges that they strongly apprehended that the detainees were tortured during illegal custody and that they would be kept in illegal detention for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018