Curbs on Qadeer challenged in LHC

By Mohammad Kamran

RAWALPINDI: A habeas corpus petition has been made with the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench against restrictions on Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, asking the court to ensure that the nuclear scientists is allowed to lead a free life and to re-record his statement on the proliferation issue without coercion.

Hasamul Haq, brother of Maj (r) Islamul Haq who is the principal staff officer of Dr Khan, has submitted the petition. Maj Haq is also under arrest and being investigated for nuclear proliferation.

The petitioner prayed for halting the media trial of Dr Khan and an end to extraordinary security and undue restrictions on his movement.

The petition stated that Dr Khan was a national hero and had rendered valuable services for the nation, but he was being humiliated on the basis of allegations made by other countries. The petition said that Dr Khan guaranteed national empowerment, integrity, security and prestige of Muslims but he was forced to record a confession under coercion.

The petition has been filed through advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram and the Federation of Pakistan has been made a party to the case through the interior secretary.

Other parties to the petition are the Inter Services Public Relations director general, Inter-Services Intelligence director general and National Command and Control Authority chairman. The petition is likely to be taken up on February 9, along with other petitions by the detained scientists’ families.

The Attorney General for Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan has been asked to state the government’s legal position on the recent arrests of scientists and engineers of the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) for “debriefings”.

Families demand release: The families of the detained scientists and other officials have demanded their immediate release after a ‘confession’ by Dr Khan and a consequent pardon by the president, according to a press release issued by them.

The families demanded making public the outcome of investigations into the case as “the allegation of personal greed has no lawful or material grounds and we demand that specific details of any such alleged charges be made public”.

They demanded a meeting with Dr Khan and President Pervez Musharraf so that “we can project their plight and point of view”.

They also demanded copies of the first information reports, which had been sealed by the Chaklala Airport Police Station.

Home | Main