Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Human Rights on Thursday called for a holistic legislation for rehabilitation of Pakistani internees in Guantanamo Bay like prisons and tasked the National Commission on Human Rights and the Law and Foreign Affairs ministries to prepare draft legislation.

The call came during discussion on payment of compensation to Pakistani nationals recently released from the Bagram Prison in Afghanistan. The representatives of foreign and other ministries contended that there was no law to address the issue.

The meeting, presided over by Chairperson Nasreen Jalil, was attended by Senators Nisar Muhammad Khan, Sitara Ayaz,Sehar Kamran, Samina Abid, Jehanzeb Jamaldini and Farhatullah Babar as well as the NCHR chairman, officials of the Law Division, Ministry of Human Rights, Foreign Affairs and others.

Pleading for compensation and rehabilitation of the prisoners in Bagram Prison, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that there were many more such prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who were handed over during Musharraf era without due process and about whom nothing was known.

Quoting Musharraf biography, he said that his government had captured 689 militants and handed 369 of them to the Central Intelligence Agency without trial. “Interestingly, this confession was deleted from the Urdu translation of the book,” he said.

“Fifteen years down the line, we want answers to such questions as what was their crime? Whether any trial was conducted at that time or not?” he asked.

“We owe it to all those innocent who were wrongly incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay or in Bagram or in other such centres,” he said.

He said that providing justice to them called for holistic legislation. “The Parliament will be failing in its duty if did not raise voice for rule of law, due process and compensation to these unfortunate people,” he said.

Talking to reporters later, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that after the promulgation of the Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulation 2011, several dozen internment centres were set up in various parts of the country.

“The regulation was given back dated effect to encourage the law enforcement agencies bring into the open those caught during fight against militancy in Swat and Malakand to stand open trial. However, these internment centres had overtime turned into Pakistani Guantanamo Bay prisons and virtual black holes from which no information was forthcoming,” he said.

The committee also discussed the issue of how to prevent misuse of the blasphemy law. Members were of the view that while no change in the law was contemplated, it was necessary to devise ways and means to prevent its misuse.

The amendment in the National Commission on the Status of Women Act 2012 passed by the National Assembly was not passed by the committee, which sought more time to deliberate on the issue.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said that a legislation to force the government to appoint a new chairperson after the incumbent had ceased to perform her functions was of no use.

He proposed to adopt the model of Wafaqi Mohtasib, which provided for the incumbent Mohtasib to continue till the appointment of a new one. The committee, however, deferred the issue.

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2017.