Islamabad - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday summoned Station House Officer (SHO) Secretariat Police Station for not registering First Information Report (FIR) despite court’s orders against former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief in Islamabad Jonathan Banks over deaths of civilians in US drone attacks.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui conducted the hearing of a contempt of court petition filed by Haji Abdul Karim Khan, resident of North Waziristan, who prayed to the court that the Secretariat Police Station did not register the FIR against the accused so far despite the order passed by the same bench on June 5, 2014.
During the proceedings, the IHC single bench issued notice to SHO Nawaz Bhatti and directed him to appear before the court in person on October 24.
Mirza Shahzad Akber, Advocate counsel for Haji Abdul Karim Khan, contended before the court that the same bench of the IHC had ordered the Secretariat Police Station SHO to register an FIR against Jonathan Banks over deaths of civilians in US drone attacks, however, the FIR has not been registered despite the lapse of three and half months.
He requested the court that contempt of court proceedings may be initiated against the SHO for not complying with the court orders.
He further prayed to the court to direct the Secretariat Police Station to register the FIR without any further delay. The court summoned the SHO in-person and deferred the hearing till October 24 for further proceedings.
Previously, a same bench of IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had directed the Secretariat police SHO on June 5, 2014 to register an FIR against Banks and former CIA General Counsel John A Rizzo over deaths of civilians in US drone attacks but the Secretariat police did not register the FIR upon which Haji Abdul Karim Khan filed contempt of court petition in the IHC.
Haji Abdul Karim Khan, a native of Mir Ali, North Waziristan, had earlier filed an application in the IHC, seeking the registration of FIR against then CIA station chief Banks for the deaths of his son and a brother in a 2009 drone attack.
He had pleaded in his petition that drone strikes killed innocent civilians, adding that his relatives were also among the victims of these attacks. Karim Khan added that the drone attacks took place on the orders of the ex-CIA station chief, which implicated his direct involvement in the matter.
Karim Khan, a resident of North Waziristan Agency had lost his teenage son Zahinullah and a brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary schoolteacher in Mir Ali, in a drone strike on December 31, 2009. Karim Khan who is a native of Machi Khel, Mir Ali of North Waziristan had filed an application for FIR with the Secretariat Police Station of Islamabad in 2010.
The Secretariat police refused to lodge the FIR and then he filed a case under section 22-A with the civil court of Islamabad while praying that the police may be directed to register the FIR.
A civil judge of Islamabad dismissed the application in December 2013 citing lack of jurisdiction as the reason. The civil judge had observed that the attack was done in federally administrated tribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan and hence the Islamabad court could not assume jurisdiction in this matter. Later, the petitioner filed a petition in the IHC that was allowed on June 05.