PHC orders govt to allow family to meet Dr Shakil Afridi

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday ordered the provincial government and superintendent of Central Prison Peshawar to allow the family members to meet Dr Shakil Afridi, who allegedly helped the US track down Osama bin Laden.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan directed the superintendent Central Prison Peshawar to allow Dr Shakil Afridi’s brother and other family members to meet him as per the prisons rules.
The court issued the directives in a writ petition filed against the ban that disallowed Dr Shakil Afridi to meet his family members and lawyers.Jamil Afridi, brother of Dr Shakil Afridi, had filed the petition through his lawyers Abdul Latif Afridi and Qamar Nadeem Afridi.
The petitioner claimed that the provincial government had barred Dr Shakil Afridi from meeting family members and his lawyers since 2012.During the course of hearing, Latif Afridi informed the bench that under the prisons rules the relatives had the right to meet the prisoner once in two weeks.
He submitted that three years had passed but the prison authorities were not allowing Dr Shakil Afridi to meet his family members, including sisters.He said the ban on the visitation rights was against the law and prisons rules.
Defending the ban, Additional Advocate General (AAG), Qaiser Ali Shah stated that under the Prisons Rules 5 and 6 the superintendent of prison had the powers to allow meetings with the prisoners.
The PHC chief justice observed that there should be solid reasons by the prisons authorities for disallowing the family members to meet a prisoner.However, in the case of Dr Shakil Afridi, the Prison Department didn’t explain the reasons for imposing the ban on meeting with him.
The Deputy Superintendent Central Prison Peshawar, Muhammad Fayyaz Khan, also appeared in the case.After hearing the arguments, the bench passed a short order that “Relatives of the convicts be allowed to meet him in accordance with rules.”
The provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Department had imposed a ban on meetings with Dr Shakil Afridi after his interview to the US news channel Fox News in which he spoke about his affection for the USA and his capture by the Pakistani spy agency after the May 2011 US Navy SEALs raid on the Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden was killed.
Following the interview, authorities revoked several privileges that Dr Shakil Afridi was enjoying and barred him from meeting his lawyers and family members.On the other hand, over a year has passed and the Fata Tribunal has not even held the first hearing in the review petition filed against the decision of FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulation) Commissioner, who reduced his sentence by 10 years.The FCR Commissioner had also ordered the government to try Dr Shakil Afridi on the charges of helping the CIA to track down Osama bin Laden.