PESHAWAR, Jan 16: The detention of 145 pro-Taliban Pakistani fighters in central prison, Peshawar, has been challenged in the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday.
A former MNA of PML Jawed Ibraheem Paracha filed a writ petition through Advocate Qazi Mohammad Anwer under article 199 of the Constitution.
The petitioner has prayed the court to declare the arrest and confinement of the detenues as illegal, unlawful and further the manner of the confinement was also unlawful. He further prayed the directives be issued that the detenues be not handed over to any other country and their arrest and confinement be set aside and they be set at liberty.
It is requested that appropriate orders be issued to the respondents to treat the detenues decently, respecting their dignity as required by the constitution and also to provide them medical treatment, facilities and consultation with the advocates of their choice.
The petitioner has also filed an application along with the main petition, stating that orders be issued that till final disposal of the petition the detenues should not be moved from central prison Peshawar.
In the petition it was stated that in the first week of January, 2002, the said 145 Pakistanis were arrested by the law enforcement agencies and paramilitary organizations and they were subsequently shifted to central prison, Peshawar, for confinement without production before any court of law. The petitioner has also given the names of the alleged 145 detenues.
Meanwhile, Jawed Ibraheem Paracha on Wednesday filed amended writ petition challenging the detention of 57 suspected Al Qaeda members in district prison Kohat.
The petitioner had earlier filed a petition before the high court and later on requested that he should be allowed to file amended petition. The respondents in the petition are Federation of Pakistan through secretary Cabinet Division, province of NWFP through home secretary, IGP NWFP, district Nazim through DCO Kohat and superintendent district prison Kohat.
JUI CHIEF: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the provincial government to submit comments in a writ petition challenging the detention of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
The bench comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Ijazul Hassan fixed Jan 23 for next hearing and directed the NWFP advocate general Qazi Rasheedul Haq to submit comments before that date.
Advocate Issa Khan appeared for the petitioner Sahibzada Khalid Ahmad Benori, provincial Naib Amir of the party, and argued that the case may be decided at the earliest as they had claimed that the detention of the detenu was illegal and against the law.
Mr Haq, who was issued notice during last hearing, stated that he should be allowed to file comments in reply to the petition. He added that there were a number of allegations against the detenu. The court directed that the case would not be adjourned next time and comments should be filed positively.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been in detention since Oct 6 last year under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and his detention order was renewed a number of times. On Dec 28 fresh order was issued for his confinement at Chashma rest House D.I.Khan. The government claimed that his presence outside was detrimental to public peace and tranquillity.
The petitioner stated that not a single instance was disclosed in the impugned order nor otherwise communicated to the detenu that any assembly, formed on his call, had gone violent and caused any damage.