Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday stayed execution of a convict of the military court facing charges of Bannu jailbreak till October 5. The IHC bench comprising Justice Noor ul N Haq Qureshi took up the petition filed by the Mir Shah Khan father of convict Tahir Khan. On September 2, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced that the Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has approved death sentence to the 'hardcore terrorists' and Tahir was one of the convicts.
Father of the convict had filed the petition seeking trial proceedings of the military court and also permission to visit his son. IHC Justice Qureshi during the earlier hearing on September 10 had directed the federal government to submit detailed report in this matter.
On Thursday, the standing counsel Raja Khalid told the court that he had approached the interior ministry, the FIA, and Punjab Rangers but could not get any information about the convict. The judge remarked that he had made futile exercise and instead of contacting the quarters concerned, he contacted the irrelevant people. On this the standing counsel requested the court to adjourn the matter for a fortnight enabling him to get complete report. Justice Qureshi then issued the restraining order against the conviction till the filing of the said report.
Later on, the Interior Ministry has submitted the reply before the court regarding conviction of Tahir that he was awarded death penalty by Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Military on September 2. He has been kept in detention center at Peshawar. The family, however, can meet the convict with the approval of the administration. Earlier, a military court had convicted Tahir to death sentence for his involvement in the Bannu jailbreak incident.
In petition father of convict, Mir Shah Khan contended before the court that he was a resident of Bannu city and on February 24, 2014 his son was working at his fruit and vegetable cart in Lahore when some unidentified persons kidnapped him. He stated that all his family members kept searching for him but could not find him and then the petitioner's another son Muhibullah reported the incident to Raiwind Police Station Lahore but the police also could not locate his son. Mir Shah continued that on September 3, 2015, he came to know that his son was being tried by a military court for the allegations of attacking the jail in Bannu and had been awarded death sentence adding that he had tried to meet his son but he was denied.