PESHAWAR, Sept 28: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday put on notice the director general of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and two others in a habeas corpus petition challenging the alleged illegal detention of a person for over two years.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Jehanzeb Raheem, fixed October 18 for next hearing of the petition filed by Taj Mahal, wife of the detainee, Umar Rahman.
Besides the DG ISI, the respondents put on notice by the court include the Swat district incharge of the ISI and the SHO of Matta police station in Swat from where the detainee was allegedly picked up by the officials of the agency.
Advocate Siddique Haider Qureshi who appeared for the petitioner contended that the detainee had been missing for over two years. He said that the father of the detainee and a guest were also picked along with him on August 29, 2004, and were released later on. However, the whereabouts of the detainee had not been known since then, he added.
The petitioner has prayed to the court to direct the respondents to provide information about the detainee immediately and allow the family members to meet the detainee till final decision of the writ petition.
The petitioner stated that her husband was picked up by the agency personnel in connivance with the local police from village Kooz Shore Salaind in Swat while he was on his way to a mosque to offer Fajr prayer along with his father Mohammed Rahim and a guest Abdul Qayyum. She added that her father-in-law was released a day later whereas the guest was set free after 22 days.
She said due to the long disappearance of her husband, she feared that he might have been killed by the said agency.
Besides the three mentioned above, the respondents include the inspector general of police NWFP, the deputy inspector general of police Mingora, the Swat district police officer, the defence secretary, the Federation of Pakistan through interior secretary and the Government of NWFP through home secretary.
The petitioner also alleged that after the detention of Umar Rahman, the intelligence agency and police personnel illegally raided their house, confined all females in a room and took away their belongings, including gold ornaments, and cash.