KARACHI, April 22: The Sindh High Court sought on Tuesday details of the sedition charge against a civilian who has been detained by military authorities for court-martial.

Deputy Attorney-General Sajjad Ali Shah informed a division bench that former fuel contractor Haji Ghulam Abbas, who supplied oil to the Pakistan Air Force, tried to lure PAF officials posted in Karachi into corruption and malpractices. He was taken into custody by military authorities and charged with sedition under the penal code and the PAF Act. He was awaiting court- martial at Rawalpindi.

The division bench, which consisted of Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, asked the DAG to spell out the details of the charge. A bland assertion that a civilian was to be court-martialled for sedition was not enough to explain away his arrest and detention by military authorities.

According to petitioner Shakila Firdous, Ghulam Abbas’s wife, the contractor was picked up in Karachi eight months ago, shifted to Rawalpindi subsequently and had remained in custody since without any detention order or trial. She said the arrest and detention were unlawful and a civilian could only be tried by an ordinary civil or criminal court of competent jurisdiction, even if the charge involved the offence of sedition. She requested the court to order the detainee’s release.

The DAG informed the bench that Ghulam Abbas was to be court-martialled for sedition. In response to the court query, he said he would seek further instructions from the ministry of defence and submit the details of the charge in due course. The bench adjourned the hearing to April 29 to enable the law officer to place the defence ministry’s instructions before it.