The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday issued notices to the NWFP Home Department and the provincial advocate general (AG) on a petition filed against the arrest of 10 Sipah-e-Sahaba leaders and activists. A PHC division bench consisting of justices Salim Khan and Hamid Farooq Durrani admitted the writ petitions by the banned organisationÂ’s activists for hearing and directed the government officials to explain their decision to arrest the men under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).The police had arrested Kalimullah, Muhammad Salim, Haji Muhammad Ayaz, Muhammad Nauman, Maulana Azizur Rehman, Muhammad Amjad, Muhammad Khalid, Zakaullah, Gul Sher and Abdul Majid after the murder of Sipah-e-Sahaba leader Sajjad Hussain in Dera Ismail Khan. The men challenged their arrest under Article 199 of the Constitution in the PHC.
The petitioners’ lawyer said that they had been arrested without any evidence and no criminal charges had been brought against them so far, which, he said, was a violation of their fundamental rights. He said that the Home Department had violated section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code by arresting them without any proof of their involvement in criminal activities. “Under the law, security agencies have no right to arrest citizens without any proof,” he said. The Home Department had stated that the action was taken to prevent sectarian violence in the district. The petitioners’ lawyer asked the court to declare the department’s action void and release the petitioners.