The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the interior secretary to appear in the court and provide information on the whereabouts of six prisoners released from American detention and handed over to government of Pakistan.
The government’s council sought time to provide the information.
Earlier, the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), representing the released detainees and their families, had presented evidence in court confirming the repatriation of the six detainees.
The state counsel insisted that the directions, given by Justice Khalid Mehmood on Thursday, had left the Interior Ministry with only one working day to obtain the required information on the whereabouts and state of the repatriated detainees.
The request for more time, consistent with the state’s strategy of delaying proceedings, did not sit well with the judge, who dismissed the plea immediately.
The judge admonished the Ministry of Interior for employing delaying tactics and branded their actions as “cruel”.
He further went on to reproach the ministry for not informing the families, lawyers and the court about the repatriation of the detainees after they were released from Bagram. He lamented that information about the release of six Pakistani detainees came to the knowledge of the Lahore High Court through a letter submitted to a US court of appeals instead of through the Pakistan government.
Justice Khalid then ordered the state to quit stalling and ordered the interior secretary to present himself in court on the next hearing, set for today (Tuesday).
Sarah Belal, council for petitioners, believed that the present turn of events and the judge summoning the secretary of interior to court was reason to be hopeful.
