LAHORE – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday summoned Director Afghanistan Desk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on a petition seeking confirmation of the nationality of 32 Pakistani citizens detained at the Bagram airbase prison.
The LHC was dismayed at the report submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the nationality of detainees at Bagram. Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan observed that the Ministry had miserably failed to comply with his earlier orders.
The Ministry submitted a report stating that letters had been sent to the families of 25 detainees and a list of their names was provided to the Interior Ministry for confirmation. Justice Khan was appalled by the Ministry’s inability to compile such basic details for Pakistanis who had already spent several years in Bagram.
Frustrated with the delaying tactics by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice Khan summoned Director (Afghanistan) to appear before the court on the next date of hearing with all the records related to the Pakistanis detainees at Bagram.
The US embassy filed a diplomatic note before the LHC confirming this procedure. The report filed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that humanitarian and security assurances were to be conveyed to US authorities after which the detainees would receive an exit visa.
Barrister Sara Bilal of Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) had requested the court for directions to the ministries to make arrangements for the detainees’ repatriation. Meanwhile, the LHC Chief Justice on Wednesday sought appearance of Zarai Taraqiati Bank limited (ZTBL) acting president on July 19 on a contempt petition. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial issued the orders on the petition filed by M/S Uni Milk, Okara, against ZTBL officials for not releasing properties and guaranties despite repaying the loan amount as per the court orders.
The petitioner contended that he approached the LHC for implementation of the decision of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Committee for resolution of dispute (Under SBP Circular 29) to settle an outstanding loan with the ZTBL. The court while disposing of the plea, directed ZTBL officials to extend the relief of SBP Circular to the petitioner, he said and mentioned that inter-court appeal against the decision was also rejected by the LHC division bench whereas the apex court also dismissed the ZTBL appeal.