LAHORE, July 31: The whereabouts of a Jihadi leader remained a mystery as both the federal and provincial governments reiterated on Wednesday that they had neither ordered his arrest nor he was in their custody.

Deputy Attorney-General Sher Zaman Khan and Advocate-General Maqbool Ilahi Malik submitted that according to their instructions, Hafiz Saeed of Jamaatul Dawa had not been detained by any federal or provincial authority or agency. He might have gone into hiding, a law officer said when petitioner Maimoona Saeed’s counsel, Nazeer Ahmad Ghazi, remarked sarcastically that he might have been picked up by the US authorities.

The counsel produced Punjab minister Ghulam Sarwar Qadri’s press statement that Hafiz Saeed was safe and sound in the provincial government custody. Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad, who is hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by the detenu’s wife, asked Advocate Ghazi to move an application for bringing the statement on record and adjourned further hearing till Aug 2.