PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday sought replies from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and senior police personnel, including the inspector general (IG), regarding non-functional provincial chief executive Sohail Afridi’s detention.
Afridi has not been seen since the imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in his province on Oct 11. His whereabouts remained unknown on the day governor’s rule was imposed and a federal minister confirmed a day later that he and some of his cabinet members were in preventative custody.
The PTI has also alleged the detention and arrests of several of its other members, including lawmakers and ministers. Their whereabouts have not been disclosed by the government so far.
Multiple pleas have been filed in the PHC in this connection, and a bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed fixed them for hearing on Nov 3, when the respondents were told to submit their replies.
Apart from Afridi’s detention, the petitions pertain to the disappearance of KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, MNAs Junaid Akbar and Dr Amjid Ali, provincial minister Amjid Ali Khan, MPAs Ikramullah and Aurangzeb Khan, former chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan Muhammad Khalid Khursheed and several other PTI leaders.
Afridi’s brother Muhammad Aamir filed one of the petitions, alleging that Afridi was “abducted” from the Chief Minister’s House on the night that the emergency was imposed in the province. He had approached the PHC last week.
Aamir sought directives for the respondents, including the KP IG, the Peshawar capital city police officer (CCPO) and others to immediately take all lawful and effective measures to trace and recover his brother.
He also sought that if Afridi was found to be in custody, the PHC order that he be produced so that the legality of his custody could be examined in accordance with Article 199(1)(b)(i) of the Constitution.
The article states that a high court may direct that a person in custody within its territorial jurisdiction be brought before it, “so that the court may satisfy itself that he is not being held in custody without lawful authority or in an unlawful manner”.
The petitioner sought directives for the respondents concerned to submit a comprehensive report regarding the whereabouts, present condition and legal status of Afridi, as well as the details of steps taken to trace and recover him.
He also requested the court to direct the CCPO to submit a detailed report concerning the alleged Oct 11 incident at the CM House — “including the circumstances in which the abductee was allegedly taken away, the security arrangements in place, the people present and the action taken immediately thereafter”.
Presenting his arguments at the hearing on Tuesday, Aamir’s lawyer, Bashir Vazir, claimed that on Oct 11, at approximately 2pm, Afridi was “illegally detained” in the CM House and later on was abducted from the premises, in the presence of the Peshawar CCPO, by “certain unknown armed and masked individuals”.
He contended that Afridi’s detention and disappearance was “wholly illegal, unlawful, without lawful authority and of no legal effect” as the respondents had “not disclosed any lawful order, warrant, abduction order or other legal authority” under which Afridi was taken into custody.
Swati’s cousin, Waqar Ahmad Khan, has also filed a similar petition. His lawyer, Inam Yousufzai, requested the court at Tuesday’s hearing to issue directives for Swati’s recovery.
He claimed that on Oct 11 at approximately 7pm, Swati was “abducted” from the KP Assembly in the presence of the CCPO by “certain unknown armed and masked individuals”.
He stated that the precise sequence of events, the identities of the persons involved and the circumstances in which Swati was taken away required “immediate verification through the relevant official record, eyewitness accounts and other available evidence”.
In both cases, the petitioners prayed that the court direct the respondents to ensure the preservation and lawful examination of all relevant CCTV footage, security logs, entry and exit registers, duty rosters, vehicle access records and other material relating to the incidents.
Furthermore, they sought the registration of a first information report and a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the alleged abductions, disappearances and detentions.
They contended that the whereabouts and present condition of PTI leaders needed to be immediately ascertained through lawful means, and requested the PHC to issue directives for their release if they were found to be in unlawful custody.
Junaid Akbar’s nephew, Nadir Shah, and Khalid Khursheed’s brother, Hanif Ullah, have also filed pleas, requesting the court to order the recovery and production of the two politicians.
In almost identical petitions, they challenged their “abduction” on the night of Oct 11.