PESHAWAR, May 25: A group of lawyers from Fata was likely to file a habeas corpus petition against the detention of 49 members of a peace jirga from the Kurram tribal region at the Peshawar High Court on Monday, sources close to the tribesmen said.
The jirga members were arrested by Peshawar police from a city’s guesthouse on May 20 on the verbal directives of Kohat Regional Coordination Officer (RCO) Umar Afridi and Kurram Agency Political Agent Zaheerul Islam.
The tribal sources said that all members of the jirga had refused to resume talks unless sitting political agent Zaheerul Islam was removed. They added that the detention of the peace jirga without any crime or specific charge levelled against them has exposed the callous and unlawful face of the political administration in Kurram tribal region.
The way the political administration had treated them is unlawful and abuse of basic human rights, they remarked.
During an inquiry made by Dawn, police officials confirmed the arrest of 49 elders from a city’s guesthouse on May 20. Senior Superintendent Police (Operation) Imtiaz Shah said that political administration sought assistance and he provided force to shift all of them from the guesthouse to the central jail.
“We received request from political agent to provide force for shifting those elders from the guesthouse to central jail,” he said. Visitors have not been allowed to meet the detained elders since their detention. Only an MNA from the tribal region was allowed to meet them.
Another senior police officer told this scribe on the condition of anonymity that they had arrested the tribesmen on a telephone call from his senior.
Legal experts termed the detention of elders as illegal and said that political administration and local police had violated legal procedures. Police, they said, should arrest tribesmen after receiving formal detention order from the concerned political agent.
Members of the jirga representing all tribes of the troubled Kurram region were brought to Peshawar in helicopters on May 10 to negotiate a peace deal to resolve the year long bloody conflict in their area.
Lawyers said that political agent could arrest tribesmen under the collective and territorial responsibilities clauses of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), but in settled area political authorities could not use such absolute powers.
Prominent lawyer Iqbal Mohmand said that under normal procedure if a tribesman was arrested from the settled area under the FCR for any offence he should be produced before local magistrate within 24 hours. He said that police could not arrest a tribesman mere on the directives of the political administration unless proper judicial warrant was issued.
Political authorities accused the jirga members of using delaying tactics, saying they were not serious about peace talks to resolve lingering dispute in their area. “They have been enjoying lavish food at guesthouse which pampered them and were reluctant to start negotiations,” said a senior official of the Fata Secretariat. “Let them take rest in jail to come to their senses,” he added.
But detained elders blamed political administration for the deadlock in peace talks. They said that they had asked the political agent to stop fighting between rival groups in Tari Mingal and Piwar areas, restore water in irrigation channels and open main road between Parachinar and Tari Mingal to resume supply of food before starting talks to save people of the valley from starvation.
“Political agent has betrayed us. He brought us to Peshawar just for face saving,” said Syed Mohammad, a member of the joint jirga.