The News International: Peshawar: Friday, February 09,
2018.
The Peshawar
High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) to
make public information of the Army Public School (APS) carnage inquiry report
and steps taken during investigation.
The court
also asked the spokesperson for the provincial and federal governments in the
missing persons’ cases to inform the ministries of Defence and Interior to
share the information and steps taken after the APS carnage with the parents of
the students martyred in the December 2014 attack. A two-member bench
comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the
directions to the CTD, which investigated the APS incident.
“You
(respondents) are public functionaries. You have to inform the public about the
steps taken in such a public importance case and information of the inquiry
report,” the chief justice asked Muhammad Fazil, an investigation officer of
CTD, and Additional Advocate General, Qaiser Ali Shah, representing the
provincial government in the case.
“It is the
duty of the execution agency to satisfy the public with the steps taken in such
cases. The CTD DIG, after giving a reading to the inquiry report in
consultation with Investigation Officer of the case [should] make public the
steps taken during investigation and information of the inquiry report,” the
order stated.
As far as the
provision of record of the case is concerned, petitioner, Ajun Khan, father of
student Asfand Khan martyred in the APS attack, can approach the Right to
Information Commission under the RTI Act 2013.
About the
constitution of judicial inquiry in the APS carnage, the bench observed that it
was not the constitutional mandate of the high court to order formation of a
judicial commission. The court ruled that the executive (provincial government)
could ask for the constitution of the judicial inquiry.
However, the
bench stated that the court would forward the demand of the petitioner to the
provincial government and it was up to the government to consider or not the
demand for formation of the judicial inquiry.
During
hearing, lawyer Ajun Khan submitted before the bench that he had two demands.
He said his
first demand was that the court should direct the government to make public the
information of the inquiry report of the APS carnage as it was the fundamental
right of the students and their parents to know about it. He argued that the
non-communication of that information amounted to the violation of fundamental
rights of the parents, including him.
Ajun Khan
submitted that the court ordered formation of the judicial inquiry in the APS
attack case. In the petition, he claimed that necessary action to counter the
threat was not taken by the administration.
He said
whether that was an act of criminal negligence or some secret mission or
conspiracy that such a sensitive information or intelligence report was
ignored. He argued that this resulted into the unforgettable incident of the
terrorist attack on APS on December 16, 2014 that caused the martyrdom of 147
persons, including 122 students.
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