ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put together the case of Arif Gul and the case relating to the status of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Action in Aid of Civil Powers Ordinance 2019, after the KP government issued a notice to a person detained at a detention center in Kohat since 2019. allowed to presented before them. ,
On Monday, a three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed had warned that it would not hesitate to summon Prime Minister Imran Khan if Arif Gul was not produced before the court.
Consequently, 21-year-old Gul, who belongs to the Mohmand tribe, was on Tuesday produced before the Supreme Court bench of CJP Gulzar, Justice Ejaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed. He was later escorted out of the court premises surrounded by law enforcement personnel.
The bench has challenged his case and the KP Ordinance of 2019
The bench, which took up the matter on Monday, consisted of the CJP, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar.
Arif Gul is accused of attacking a security force post in Kandau, a town near the border with Afghanistan, in 2019. His relative Ala Mohammed later told dawn The gul was picked up by the security personnel from a local hotel.
The top court, in its order, said that since the trainee was produced before it, his case should be clubbed with another matter pending before a larger bench of the apex court. The court ordered the authorities to ensure the safety of the trainee and allow his meeting with his father Ziyarat Gul and grandfather Sultan Mohammed in accordance with the law.
During the hearing, Pakistan’s Attorney General (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan drew the attention of the Supreme Court that initially a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), but the matter was disposed of. It was because it was intended. The service was done after the person was identified and his family members were allowed to visit him.
He said that since a major issue is pending before a larger bench of the apex court, it would be better to club the present matter with the matter pending before it.
Justice Qazi Amin Ahmed held that the prisoner was entitled to due process of law, consultation and access to a lawyer of his choice; The cases of the detained persons were also under the supervision of the review board of the Supreme Court.
Additional Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti and Advocate General KP Shumail Butt told the court that the trainee was provided vocational training and counselling.
The major issue pending before the five-judge SC bench pertains to a joint challenge to the KP Action in Aid of Citizen Power Ordinance 2019 by PPP veteran Farhatullah Babar and rights activists Afrasiab Khattak, Bushra Gohar and Rubina Saigol. Apart from the petition, the larger bench has also been seized with an appeal by the federal government against the October 17, 2018 order of the Peshawar High Court, declaring the ordinance ultra vires and continuation of the laws in the erstwhile PATA and FATA. has been declared illegal.
In a previous hearing in 2019, the Supreme Court had asked the federal government to submit a report detailing the cases of persons detained in seven detention centers, which would be referred to the relevant courts for a final decision or for extension of their detention. was sent to the review boards. was sent to send.
CJP Asif Saeed Khosa had said, ‘If the court is convinced that the fundamental rights will be applicable to those detained in detention centers, then the whole matter will be over.
Then AGP Anwar Mansour admitted before the Supreme Court that the action in aid of the Civil Powers Regulation 2011, which was the region’s only law governing the functioning of detention centres, suffered from the drawback of not specifying any detention periods. . Was.
Published in Dawn, January 5, 2022