15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: The federation on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that a businessman of Karachi, who had gone missing 16 months ago and was later identified as an Al Qaeda suspect, had been detained from Thailand and not in Pakistan.

A three-member bench comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani had summoned the attorney general in a petition filed by Ms Farhat, wife of Saifullah Paracha, the businessman. Ms Farhat, believing that Mr Paracha had been picked up at the Karachi airport, had sought his recovery.

The court, however, adjourned the proceedings to next week after the petitioner's counsel sought time to submit additional documents. The counsel wanted to rely on certain documents but was told by the court that he could not refer to papers that were not on record.

Talking to Dawn later, Deputy Attorney-General Nasir Saeed Sheikh said he had pointed out during the hearing that Mr Paracha had gone to Bangkok on a Thai Airlines flight, a fact he said could be verified with record.

Ms Farhat claimed that her husband had been picked up by an FBI from the Karachi airport when he was about to board the Bangkok-bound flight on July 5, 2003. She said when no word came from her husband for nine days and her efforts to locate him failed, she tried to lodge an FIR. However, she added, the Karachi airport police refused to register the case.

Mr Paracha had established his business in Karachi in partnership with an American citizen, Charles Anteby, who advised him to visit Bangkok to explore some new business ventures. However, he was picked up from the departure lounge of the Karachi airport before boarding the plane, the petitioner claimed.

Ms Farhat said she moved a petition in the Sindh High Court and added that during the hearing she received a letter from her husband through the Red Cross, informing her that he was in a US army detention camp at Bagram (Afghanistan).

The letter was produced before the SHC which disposed of the matter in September 2003 with the observation that Mr Paracha had been arrested from Bangkok and not Karachi. The SHC had directed the federation to find out the whereabouts of Mr Paracha.

Consequently, Ms Farhat instituted a civil petition before the Supreme Court. She annexed a downloaded version of a CNN report of August 2003 which claimed that Mr Paracha had been arrested from Karachi and that his son, Uzair Paracha, had also been arrested from New York for his alleged connections with Al Qaeda.