Court appoints amicus curiae in missing person case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) appointed a senior lawyer as amicus curiae (friend of court) for assistance in a writ petition pertaining to release of a citizen arrested under the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation.

Hearing the writ petition of Shabana Khan, the mother of missing Samiullah, the two-member bench of PHC comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Wiqar Ahmad appointed the Supreme Court Bar member Syed Mubashir Shah advocate as amicus curiae. The bench asked the senior counsel to present arguments as amicus curiae in the writ petition, so the court could deliver a verdict in the petition in question.

The petitioner has made the federal government, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Director General Headquarters Military Intelligence, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs and others as respondents in the case.

Counsel for the petitioner informed the court that Samiullah was arrested by the law enforcing agencies in 2023 under the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation and until now, he had not been produced in any court of law.

He said that the PHC had already declared the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation null and void but the petitioner’s son was still in the custody of law enforcers and being kept in the internment centre in Lakki Marwat.

He pleaded that the petitioner, who is mother of Samiullah, was also not allowed to meet him since his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in the internment centre. The lawyer said that there was no criminal case against the petitioner’s son but he was being kept in the internment centre.