ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said will summon the prime minister, if an accused, Arif Gul, is not produced from an internment centre in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, on Monday, heard Sultan Muhammad’s habeas corpus petition regarding detention of detainee, Gul, who had been accused of attacking a military camp near the Afghan border area.

“Arif Gul is in the detention centre and it is difficult to bring him,” the additional attorney general replied when the chief justice asked him, if he had brought the accused.

“Lock the courts, if he (Gul) cannot be produced,” said the chief justice.

“The court also has the power to summon the defence leadership,” he added.

Expressing annoyance, the chief justice asked the additional attorney general; “Why Gul’s citizenship issue had not been resolved? The matter has been under investigation since 2019.”

The KP advocate general informed that Gul was involved in the attack on army camp near Afghan border. He said that Gul’s counselling and vocational training had been completed in the detention centre.

Justice Jamal Mandokhel inquired; “Is the law under which Arif Gull has been kept in the detention centre, legal?”, adding “the FATA has now been merged with the KP”.

The top court rejected the additional attorney general and the K-P advocate general’s request for some time. The K-P advocate general informed that the accused could not be produced today (Monday) as he has to be brought from the KP province. Upon that the chief justice adjourned the hearing until today (Tuesday).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022