The Supreme Court dismissed petitions of six convicted army officers on Wednesday on the grounds that at present, they were not under illegal detention and no order was required for their release.
The six dismissed army officer, Colonel Khalid Mahmood Abbasi, Major Attaullah Khan Mahmood, Colonel Abdul Ghaffar, Major Adil Quddus , Captain Usman, and Major Rohail had filed petitions that they were illegally arrested in 2003 and kept in illegal detention for a period ranging from 5 to 27 months without any charge-sheet or trial in violation of Army Act 51, 74 and 75 as well as Article 10 (2) of the Constitution.
The petitioners counsel Chaudhry Akram argued that under the law it was compulsory for the authorities to inform the detainees about grounds of their detention, as soon as may be, and the detained personnel should have been produced before their Commanding Officer within 24 hours of their arrest for charge-sheet and court martial.
He said that even after they were convicted by the court martial, copies of the judgements and record of the proceedings was not provided to the convicts which vitiated entire court proceedings.
About the present status of the petitioners, the counsel said that Colonel Khalid served six months rigorous imprisonment (RI) and released after 19 months detention, Major Attaullah Khan Mahmood released without reason under Section 16 of Army Act after remaining in detention for 19 months, Colonel Abdul Ghaffar released after serving three years RI, Major Adil undergoing 10-year RI, Captain Usman dismissed from service under section 16 of the Army Act, after remaining under detention for 22 months, and Major Rohail also dismissed from service under Section 16 of the Army Act after 27 months in detention.
The counsel submitted that detention without charge-sheet should be declared illegal otherwise it would open flood-gates of highhandedness and illegalities on the part of the government.
Appearing on behalf of the government, Colonel Jehangiri and Deputy AG Raja Irshad argued that the 3 petitioners were tried by a court martial and two have served their sentences, while three were released without trial. They said the convicts filed appeals against their sentences in the HC and SC which were dismissed under Article 199 (3), which takes off jurisdiction of these courts to hear petitions of the members of the Armed Forces of Pakistan in respect of their terms and conditions of service.
They submitted that the petitioners have no grievances to knock the doors of the superior courts. Dismissing petitions, the three-member bench observed that the petitioners can approach the appropriate forum for removal of their grievances, if any.
Comments
Comments are closed.