PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police (IGP) to constitute a proper JIT (joint investigation team) for investigating into the alleged illegal detention of seven members of the proscribed Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, who had gone missing after they attended an official peace jirga in Peshawar.

A single-member bench of Chief Justice SM Attique Shah disposed of a petition filed by a friend of the detainees named Mohammad Nazeef, with the direction “Keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the worthy inspector general of police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is directed to constitute a proper JIT to investigate the aforesaid case, in order to allay the grievance of the petitioner, who has levelled serious allegations against the worthy capital city police officer (CCPO), Peshawar regarding the missing of the alleged detainees.”

The alleged detainees named Noorullah, Haneefullah, Mohammad Adnan Wazir, Gohar Zaman, Habib Wazir, Syed Irfanullah and Farmanullah had attended an “aman jirga” convened by the provincial government in the KP Assembly on November 12.

They had gone missing after attending the said jirga. The petitioner claimed that in his presence the detainees were taken into custody by local police on the directives of the CCPO.

He claimed that since then the whereabouts of the detainees were not known. He had requested the court to issue directives to the respondents to produce them in the court and to show that under what authority of law, they had been hauled up.

During previous hearing the bench had sought replies from the respondents including the local police. An additional advocate general Noumanul Haq informed the bench that regarding the missing of the alleged detainees, a proper criminal case through an FIR was registered at Tehkal police station on November 27 under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The petitioner’s counsel Shah Mohammad Khan expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation in the said case, alleging that the CCPO himself was involved in the missing of the detainees, hence impartial investigation was not expected from his subordinates.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2025