Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday vacated the stay against execution of a convict sentenced by a military court and gave go-ahead to the proceedings pending in a military appellate court after Defence Minister shared details with the court stating that the convict was involved in Bannu Jailbreak and other offences. IHC Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi took up the petition filed by the father of the convict, who sought court order to allow him to meet his convicted son. The court observed that the petition was in-fructuous and disposed of it of accordingly.
Standing counsel for the federal government Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan during hearing of the petition informed the court that the convict was being kept at Kohat Jail and the family members may meet him as per the rules given in the jail manual. Raja Khalid further told the court that the military court of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had convicted Tahir on three charges.
"Apart from being involved in Bannu Jailbreak break, Tahir is involved in attacking FC posts twice," he informed the court. As per the report of defence ministry filed in the IHC, in April 2012, more than 200 heavily armed Taliban militants travelling in several vehicles attacked the Central Jail in Bannu, Southern District of KP. In the said jailbreak, the defence ministry claimed that the terrorists freed 381 prisoners. According to standing counsel, the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) has approved the death sentence awarded to Tahir by the military court on September 2.
He said that the convict had filed an appeal against his conviction in the military appellate court. "The appeal has been filed in the appellate court by the convict from jail in accordance with the rules, and the proceedings on the appeal are likely to commence soon," he added. After hearing the arguments, IHC Justice Qureshi observed that since the remedy of appeal for the convict is available therefore the petition is disposed of.
The court further observed that military court of the KP had convicted the accused, therefore, the petitioner might have approached the Peshawar High Court (IHC) for any grievance. The petitioner Mir Shah Khan in the petition claimed that the military authorities conducted the trial of his son in the military court without providing him opportunity of defence. It alleged that the military authorities had denied the petitioner access to his death-row son which is a violation of fundamental right.
Earlier on Thursday the court issued stay order against the execution of the convict after standing counsel informed the court that the ministry of interior needs at least 15 days to trace the whereabouts of Tahir. The court then adjourned the hearing till October 5. However, after issuance of the stay order, the standing counsel again contacted the ministry of interior and the defence ministry and gathered some information about the convict and passed on it to Justice Qureshi, which fixed the petition for Friday.
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