The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the foreign ministry to take steps for the release and repatriation of Pakistanis detained at the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan within a month. The directions were given while hearing a case, which was later adjourned till
June 30. The court also expressed dismay over the fact that the ministry had so far failed to take any concrete steps in this regard. The detainees include Awwal Khan, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Fazal Karim, Amal Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad and Younas Rehmatullah. A lawyer representing the ministry informed the court that the court's previous directions about confirming the prisoners' nationalities had not reached the ministry because of unavailability of a copy of the court's order. The court remarked that the persons in question had been held without charge for years and were now being abandoned by their own government.
The standing counsel said that the government would make serious efforts for the release of Pakistani citizens once their nationalities had been confirmed. Barrister Sarah Belal, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, argued that there was a three-step process for bringing these detainees home. First the nationality should be confirmed, then humanitarian and security assurances be provided on behalf of the detainees after which they could be repatriated, she said.
Barrister Belal said that the petitioner was committed to representing all 32 Pakistani detainees at Bagram and she would not stop until the government made sure that every one of these men returned home. On her request, the court also allowed the addition of two more detainees to the instant petition.
Sultana Noon, the representative of the Justice Project Pakistan, submitted that the citizens had been detained at Bagram jail without any charge or trial since 2003. She alleged that they were shifted to the notorious US prison in Afghanistan after they were kidnapped from Pakistan.