PESHAWAR, Aug 16: The federal interior ministry has told the Peshawar High Court that it knows nothing about the illegal detention or whereabouts of four detainees, including two sisters, suspected of plotting suicide attacks in Karachi.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ijazul Hassan and Justice Fazalur Rehman Khan, had earlier directed Deputy Attorney-General Salahuddin Khan to furnish written comments of the ministry with an affidavit.

Mr Khan on Tuesday produced a letter, sent to him by a section officer of the ministry, stating that none of the federal agencies — working under supervision of the ministry — were aware about the detention of the four suspects.

The court observed that since the matter pertained to a writ petition of the nature of habeas corpus, the ministry should furnish written comments with an affidavit.

The four suspects include Arifa Baloch, her sister Saba Baloch, her husband Bilal and his mother Gul Hamdana.

The petition has been filed by Hameed Khan, who claims to be the father-in-law of Arifa and says that Saba had an infant child with her when they were arrested in the Swat district on June 4.

Advocate Shahnawaz Khan, appearing for the father of the girls, Sher Mohammad Baloch, disputed the claim of the interior ministry and contended that the news about their arrest had been published in newspapers. He added that the press clippings were annexed with the petition.

When the court inquired whether the press reports had any legal status, the deputy attorney-general pointed out that in the Benazir Bhutto Assembly Dissolution Case, reported in the SCMR 1998, the apex court had ruled that if a news report had not been contradicted, it should be accepted as correct.