PHC issues notice over convicted militant’s petition

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued notice to the government in a writ petition filed by a convicted militant commander belonging to Mulla Toofan Group in Afghanistan, challenging his sentence under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) for his involvement in attacks against the Nato forces and the United States airbases in Afghanistan.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Younas Thaheem issued notice to Assistant Political Agent (APA) of Upper Orakzai Agency and others. They were asked to submit replies in the case filed against the conviction.
During hearing of the petition, Muhammad Fida Gul, the counsel for the convicted militant Shahideen, submitted before the bench that the security forces had taken his client into custody from New Adda on Kohat Road in Peshawar on January 2013. Then he was handed over to political authorities in Upper Orakzai Agency without fulfilling the legal procedure under the law, he added.
He submitted the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in its report had also declared him as black (hardcore militant). As per the JIT report, he submitted, the petitioner belonging to Mullah Toofan Group in Afghanistan and was involved in rocket attacks against Nato forces and the US airbases in Afghanistan.
In the report, he said, the petitioner was also shown as commander from the Shah Khalid Group of militants. He informed the bench that the Upper Orakzai Agency APA sentenced the petitioner to six years imprisonment and Rs100, 000 fine.
The conviction, he said, was then maintained by the FCR Commissioner and the Fata Tribunal. The lawyer submitted that law was not followed after arrest of the petitioner. He said under the law, he should be produced before the court of judicial magistrate concerned.
Separately, the bench also sought replies from the District Police Officer, deputy superintendent of police and superintendent of police (Investigation) of the Swabi district in a missing person case of Qaiser Khan.