04 January 2005	Tuesday	22 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Jan 3: The Sindh High Court adjourned on Monday the hearing of the doctor brothers' detention case to Jan 11 to enable the petitioners to challenge the new detention order issued by the provincial home department.

Dr Fauzia Akmal and Dr Farzana Naz, wives of doctors Akmal Waheed and Arshad Waheed, had challenged the detention order passed by the home secretary, retired Brig Mohammad Mohtaram, on Dec 2, 2004, under the preventive custody provisions of the Anti-Terrorist Act.

The one-month detention period expired in the meanwhile and the petitioners' counsel sought the court's permission to amend the petition to impugn the new order for another month's confinement.

The order said the doctor brothers had links with three banned outfits, Al Qaeda, Jundullah and Hizbul Tehreer, and provided shelter, funds and medical treatment to their activists.

Their names had been notified in the ATA schedule under its section 11-EE. Their detention under Section 11-EEE was required to prevent them from continuing with their activities.

The petitioners had assailed the expired order as mala fide aimed at blocking their release on bail, but the claim was contested by the advocate-general, who said the government had sufficient evidence of their involvement with the terrorist organizations. A division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Zia Pervez, granted the petitioners' request and adjourned the hearing to Jan 11.

ARTS COUNCIL: A petition, challenging the results of the recently-conducted Karachi Arts Council elections, was on Monday adjourned by the bench to Jan 5 for arguments on the question of maintainability.

Appearing on notice, Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui said the matter related to a private organization; and the government, federal or provincial or local, had nothing to do with the polls and the petition was not maintainable. The petitioners' counsel sought time to address the issue of maintainability and the hearing was adjourned to Wednesday.