ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed chief of Islamabad police to register a first information report (FIR) against Jonathan Banks, former station chief of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), till February 23 over civilian killings in the US drone attacks.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui resumed the hearing of a contempt of court petition filed by Haji Abdul Karim Khan of North Waziristan. The petitioner pleaded that Secretariat police station has not registered case against the accused despite the orders passed by the said bench on June 5, 2014.
During the course of proceedings, Inspector General of Islamabad Police Tahir Alam Khan appeared before the single-member bench and requested the court to grant 20 days time for the registration of the FIR as the police are in consultation with the government on the matter. However, the court turned down the IGP’s request and directed him to implement the court’s order within 14 days and adjourned proceedings of the matter till February 23.
Earlier, Justice Siddiqui had issued ordered on June 5, 2014 to the Secretariat police SHO to register an FIR against Banks over deaths of civilians in the US drone attacks. 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 Mirali area of North Waziristan, had earlier filed an application in the IHC in 2010, seeking the FIR registration against the then CIA station chief Banks for the deaths of his son and a brother in a 2009 drone attack. He pleaded in his petition that drone strikes kill innocent civilians, adding that his relatives were also among the victims of those attacks. Khan added that the drone strikes took place on the commands of the ex-CIA station chief, which implicated his direct involvement in the matter.