ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The Rawalpindi Bench of Lahore High (LHC) Monday deferred hearing of 7/7 bombing case accused for another two weeks to enable the standing counsel to collect information from the intelligence agencies about his continued detention.

The family of Khalid Rashid have filed a petition with the high court pleading his innocence. The case was first heard on October 17, 2006.

When Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shabbir opened the case, the standing counsel, Raja Iftikhar Ahmad Javed, requested the court for two more weeks to gather information from different intelligence agencies about the arrest and continued detention of Mr. Rashid, one of the main accused in the case.

Khalid Rashid is a resident of Rawalpindi. He was arrested in South Africa on suspicion of involvement in the 7/7 bombing case causing the death of about 52 people. He was brought to Pakistan on November 6, 2005 by a special plane and was in detention since then.

The judge gave two weeks time to the counsel to collect information from DG Inter Services Intelligence, DG Intelligence Bureau (IB), Ministry of Interior and Foreign Office which had been made respondents in the case.

The petitioner’s counsel, Hashmat Ali Habib, argued that the accused had been brought back from South Africa about a year back but he was yet to be presented before any court.

He said Khalid Rashid was a resident of Rawalpindi and had gone to South Africa in search of a job. “He is totally innocent and be set free immediately,” Mr Hashmat pleaded. After hearing arguments from both sides, the learned judge deferred the case for another two weeks.

Meanwhile, the case of Rashid Rauf, the mastermind behind the aborted transatlantic bombing case, could not be heard on Monday due to lack of time. The Ministry of Interior has already notified that he had been taken into custody by the security agencies under the Security of Pakistan Act.