Transparency demands from the Pakistan Government

Lahore High Court (LHC) will hear a case about illegal detention of 34 Pakistani citizens in US administered Bagram prison on February 25.

Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) have submitted an application in the court of Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan requesting him to direct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to release details of their ongoing activities towards the release and repatriation of the 34 Pakistani citizens that remain illegally detained by the US forces in Bagram Prison, Afghanistan. JPP represent the families of the Pakistani detainees.

In November 2013, six Pakistanis citizens were released from Bagram and were handed over to the Pakistani authorities. The fact of their repatriation was withheld by the Pakistan Government from the LHC, their families and their lawyers. They were held without charge at an undisclosed location and treated harshly. It was through the efforts of JPP and the impartial rulings of Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan that the whereabouts of the repatriated six were disclosed and their families given access to them.

Keeping this gross mishandling of the release by the Pakistani authorities in mind, JPP has requested Justice Khalid Mehmood’s court to give necessary directions to the MFA to provide the names of Pakistanis detainees due to be released in the next tranche.

Through this application, JPP has also demanded that the MFA immediately inform the court, the families and the JPP when detainees are repatriated in the future.

Maryam Haq, counsel at the JPP, said: “The lack of transparency with which the government handled the previous tranche cannot be tolerated again. The government must stop playing these games and show that they are serious about upholding the constitutional rights of these citizens and ending their ongoing misery.”

The next hearing of the case is set for February 25th, 2014.