IHC accepts plea seeking details of terrorists killed by forces

Islamabad- The Islamabad High Court Friday accepted an early hearing of a petition of the Shohda Foundation of Pakistan Trust (SFPT) in a matter wherein it was seeking details of 100 terrorists killed by security forces after fatal suicide bombings across the country in recent past.

A single bench of IHC Justice Aamir Farooq took up this matter and directed the Registrar Office of IHC to fix this matter on May 30 for hearing.

Previously, the same IHC bench had issued notices to Secretaries of interior and defence ministries in the petition directing them to submit their reply in this matter. In this matter, the Shohda Foundation moved the petition through its trustee Ehtesham Ahmed and nominated secretaries of interior and defence ministries as respondents in this matter.

The petitioner filed the petition through his counsel Tariq Asad Advocate seeking court’s directions to direct the respondents to provide complete details of the terrorists who were killed, mode of their killings and the grounds of shooting those people without due process of law.

He stated in the petition that on February 16, over 80 people were martyred in suicide attack at the shrine of Lal Shehbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif and following the incident law enforcement agencies of the federal government launched an operation/crackdown and it was claimed that more than 100 terrorists were killed across the country.

Petitioner added that before Sehwan, a suicide attack at Mall Road Lahore caused many casualties while scores of other injured and the responsibility of which was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar a faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Ehtesham adopted in the petition that Pakistan government has been claiming that all such terrorist activities were perpetrated and orchestrated from Afghan soil and Pakistan government even handed Kabul with a list of 76 terrorist. But then security forces launched an operation and claimed killing of more than 100 terrorists.

He argued that the respondents have no legal right to capture people without due process of law and take their life in violation of their fundamental right of life and liberty guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution.

Therefore, he prayed to the court to direct the respondents to stop killing of the citizens without due process of law and be also restrained from arresting the citizens other than in accordance with law.

He further prayed that the respondents may also be directed to provide a list of those who are in their custody or detention. As an interim relief, the petitioner requested the court to direct the government not to kill anyone without due process of law till the final adjudication of the matter.

Source: The Nation