RAWALPINDI, June 14: The Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court was told here on Monday that it has no jurisdiction to hear cases of six army officers, under custody of the military authorities for allegedly violating the Army Act.
Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Tariq informed a single judge bench of the high court that the six army officials -- including two colonels, three majors and one captain -- were being tried under Section 2-d of the Army Act 1952 and, therefore, the court has no jurisdiction to proceed with the petitions of these officers.
Justice Akhtar Shabir was presiding. Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry advocate, appearing on behalf of these army officers, however, sought permission to file a rejoinder on behalf of these officers against the reply of the federation, for which the court adjourned the hearing for June 28.
He also contended that these officers were under solitary confinement for the last many months and asked the court to issue directions so that their family members could meet these officers. He also pleaded before the court to direct the federation to disclose the charges under which these officers were being held.
Separate petitions were filed by the family members of these officers namely Lt Col Abdul Ghaffar Khan, under custody for the last 15 months, Col Khalid Abbass (13 months), Major Attaullah Khan (13 months), Major Rohail Faraz (25 months), Captain Usman Zafar (10 months) and Major Adil Qadoos Khan (10 months).
The family members had petitioned the High Court in April last. This is the first time that the government had responded in court that these officers were under detention and being tried under the Army Act, Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry said while talking to Dawn.
In one of the petitions moved by Ms Abida Parvin, the wife of Col Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the petitioner had sought order from the court against the federation of Pakistan through secretaries of interior and defence and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), restraining them not to hand over her husband to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US)) and to declare Col Khan's detention from March 30, 2003 as illegal and without any lawful authority.
The petitioner had also requested that her husband be produced in court, as according to her, the ISI still had physical custody of her husband. She had also asked the court to issue orders to register a case against the respondents for illegal detention of her husband without due process of law.
She alleged that the respondents through illegal detention of Col Khan had infringed upon fundamental rights of her husband, guaranteed under the constitution of Pakistan, by violating Article 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law), 5 (loyalty to state and obedience to constitution and law), 9 (security of person), 10 (safeguards as to arrest and detention) and 25 (equality of citizens).