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PESHAWAR, Jan 22: Two officials of the Swat police on Monday expressed ignorance before the Peshawar High Court about the whereabouts of four missing people allegedly detained by the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) for the last two months.
Relatives of the four detainees disputed their claim stating that the same police officials had asked them to bring the detainees to the police station and when they were taken there they were handed over to the ISI.
After the police officers expressed ignorance about the detainees, the two-member bench comprising Justice Fazlur Rehman Khan and Justice Dost Mohammad Khan put on notice the deputy attorney-general directing him to appear on Feb 1 before the court.
The bench took up for hearing two writ petitions, filed by relatives of the four detainees.
One of the petitions had been filed by Safdar Ali, of Shagai village in the Matta tehsil of Swat district.
He stated that his 70-year-old brother, Mian Syed Laiq, his son Ziauddin and nephew Syed Mohammad Shah were arrested by the police in Swat with the collaboration of officials of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) on Nov 11, 2006, from their village and were shifted to some unknown place.
The second petition had been filed by Mian Haleem Shah, brother of a detainee, Mohammad Yousaf.
Mr Shah alleged that on Nov 24, the Matta DSP directed the detainee through telephone to visit his office.
He stated that his brother went to his office along with Safdar Ali. The DSP detained his brother and directed Safdar Ali to leave his office, he claimed.
Advocate Yousaf Khan Yousafzai appeared for the petitioners and contended that their detention was unconstitutional and illegal.
He stated that they had been kept incommunicado and family members had not been informed about their whereabouts.
The DSP concerned, Sirajul Haq, and Matta police station SHO Shah Mumtaz appeared before the court and stated that they had neither arrested the detainees nor handed them over to the ISI or IB.
The petitioner, Safdar Ali, refuted their claim stating that he himself had accompanied the detainees to the police station from where they were handed over to the intelligence agency.
He said that he had even offered prayer in the police station along with the police officials.
The other petitioner, Mian Haleem Shah, endorsed his statement and said that he had received a telephone call from the DSP.
The bench directed him to acquire record from the PTCL of that particular day which could prove his claim.
NOTICE SERVED: The Peshawar High Court put on notice the deputy attorney-general and the NWFP advocate-general in a habeas corpus petition challenging the alleged illegal detention of an educational institute’s chief, Qari Subhanullah, by an intelligence agency.
A two-member bench took up for preliminary hearing the petition filed by Ms Ayesha, wife of the detainee, praying the court to issue directives for the production of her husband in the court and to set him at liberty.
Qari Subhanullah was allegedly picked by officials of an intelligence agency accompanied by local police officials from his residence at Dura Road in the limits of the Gulbahar police station in the night between Jan 14 and 15.
The petitioner’s counsel, Khursheed Ahmad Shahan, contended that the detainee was a law abiding citizen and had no connection with any extremist group or organisation.
He said that the detainee was supervisor of Iqra Rozatul Atfal, an educational institution also imparting religious education to students in the Gulbahar area.
The respondents in the petition are the ISI, IB, Crimes Investigation Department, Crimes Investigation Agency, Ministry of Interior, Peshawar SSP and the SHO of Gulbahar police station.
The petitioner had alleged that without any search warrant the raiding team scaled the wall of their house and violated the sanctity of the home.
