PESHAWAR, Jan 4: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday put on notice the home ministry and the DIG of Police, Malakand range, in a habeas corpus petition challenging the alleged detention of a person by an intelligence agency for over 15 months. A single bench comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai directed the senior superintendent of police, Swat district, and the SHO of the Charbagh police station in Swat to furnish comments in reply to the petition.

Muhammad Zarin, father of detainee Shafiq Ahmad, filed the plea.

Advocate Bashir Khan Tanghi appeared for the petitioner and contended that officials of an intelligence agency had picked up the detainee from his cloth store, Tauheed Cloth House, in a busy bazaar of Charbagh area.

He said the detainee was picked up on Sept 28, 2004, and since then his whereabouts were unknown. He stated that the petitioner had sent applications to different high-ups, but to no avail. The intelligence agency suspected that he was a member of the proscribed Jaish-i-Muhammad and was involved in terrorism.

Mr Tanghi contended that the man was innocent and had never been charged in any act of terrorism.

He had been kept in illegal detention because he had never been produced before any court of law since his arrest.

The petitioner has also submitted affidavits of different eyewitnesses in support of his claim that the intelligence agency has picked up his son.

The petitioner had also challenged the detention of Shafiq Ahmad last year. However, the petition was disposed of by a two-member bench of the high court on May 31, 2005, as all the respondents, including intelligence agencies, had expressed ignorance about his arrest.

Now the petitioner has attached the statements of eyewitnesses. The respondents in the petition are the ministry of interior, the NWFP provincial police officer, the SSP of Swat, the SHO of Charbagh police station and the DIG Malakand range.