IHC orders FIR against ex-CIA station chief

ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here on Tuesday directed for a third time Inspector General (IG) Islamabad Police Tahir Alam Khan to register an FIR against the former CIA station chief in Islamabad Jonathan Banks and former CIA legal counsel John A Rizzo in a drone attack case.
The bench was hearing a contempt of court matter pertaining to an IHC order dated June 05, 2014 when the court had directed Secretariat Police Station to register FIR against the former CIA officials for their alleged involvement in drone attacks in the case of a North Waziristan resident Kareem Khan whose brother and a son died in a drone strike in 2009 in North Waziristan.
After the Islamabad Police did not register the FIR, Kareem Khan through his lawyer Mirza Shehzad Akbar advocate filed a contempt of court petition that was heard on Tuesday in which the IHC bench directed IG Islamabad to register the FIR and submit compliance report through registrar IHC within two days.
The IG Islamabad requested the court for audience in chamber wherein he wanted to brief the court about sensitivities involved in the case. The court allowed the request and also asked the counsel for the petitioner Mirza Shahzad Akbar to be present during these proceedings.
About in camera proceedings, legal counsel for the petitioner told this correspondent that the IG explained that the government was reluctant to register an FIR against the CIA officials because such an act could possibly jeopardise relations between Pakistan and the US.
The IHC bench rejected the IG’s request and directed him to comply with the court orders.Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan Agency, had lost his teenage son Zahinullah and a brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary school teacher in Mir Ali, in a drone strike on 31st December, 2009. Kareem Khan is a native of Machi Khel, Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan, and he had filed an application for FIR with the Secretariat Police Station of Islamabad in 2010.
Secretariat police refused to register the FIR and Kareem Khan then filed a case under Section 22-A with the civil court of Islamabad praying that the police may be directed to register the FIR.
A civil judge of Islamabad dismissed the application in December 2013 citing lack of jurisdiction as the reason. Kareem Khan then filed an appeal with the IHC when the court on June 05, 2014 had directed police to register the case.Kareem Khan was provided legal aid by the ‘Foundation for Fundamental Rights’ (FFR), a local chapter of an international NGO ‘Reprieve’.