LAHORE: The Lahore High Court ordered the ministry of foreign affairs on Wednesday to write to the US government a letter seeking reasons for the arrest of Pakistani citizens and their detention in Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase prison.
The court, which had taken up a petition challenging illegal detention of Pakistani citizens in Afghan jails, also told the ministry to ask about the charges framed against the detainees. If there were no charges, the court said, they should be released and brought back to Pakistan.
Justice Mohammad Khalid Mahmood Khan regretted that these people had been picked up in Pakistan and illegally kept in Afghan prisons.
The deputy attorney general informed the court that in compliance with its earlier order a committee had been formed and diplomatic contacts made for the purpose.
Justice Mahmood said a report filed by the ministry showed that diplomatic negotiations were cursory at best. He said he would consider that no action had been taken until the letter was sent to the United States.
Petitioner’s counsel Barrister Sarah Belal informed the court that under a new memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Afghanistan, the former had pledged to hand over to the latter all detention facilities in the country within six months.
She said the MoU made no mention of third country nationals held in US detention facilities, and if the government took no decision over the next six months, the future of Pakistani prisoners would be uncertain at best and they might disappear.
The court adjourned the hearing till April 25 and directed the law officer to ensure compliance of its order.
The petition was filed by Sultana Noon, a representative of non-profit law firm Justice Project Pakistan, a fellow of Reprieve (a UK-based organisation) in Pakistan. She said seven Pakistani citizens -- Awwal Khan, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Fazal Karim, Amal Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad and Younas Rehmatullah -- had been detained in the Bagram prison without any charge or trial since 2003.
She alleged that they had been abducted in Pakistan and shifted to the notorious US prison in Afghanistan.