March 03, 2007	Saturday	Safar 13, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 2: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday directed the government authorities to shift Khalid Khwaja, a former ISI operative from a Faisalabad prison to Rawalpindi on March 5.

Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha of the Lahore High Court gave the orders after the court was informed that Mr Khwaja was being kept at a high security prison in Faisalabad under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) 1960 law.

Both standing council for the federation Raja Iftikhar Ahmad Javed and Assistant Advocate General Punjab Tanvir Khan told the judge that the Punjab home secretary had issued the orders for shifting Mr Khwaja from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

The additional deputy commissioner general also appeared in the court and informed that District Magistrate Islamabad Chaudhry Mohammad Ali had passed 30-day detention orders of Khalid Khwaja on February 22 after which he was shifted to Faisalabad prison.

The petitioner’s council, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, pleaded that on February 21 Additional District and Sessions Judge Nisar Baig ordered his client’s release on bail, but the orders were not complied with.

Mr Siddiqui said Adiala Jail officials, when contacted, told him that Mr Khwaja was not in their custody. Later, national dailies broke the news that he had been shifted to Faisalabad.

But when the authorities in Faisalabad prison were approached, they also denied the petitioner’s presence at their facility.

“It is a mockery of justice. It constitutes contempt of court,” Mr Siddiqui said.

He requested the judge that a copy of the detention orders be provided to him so that he could move a contempt petition. He said he would also move the court against concealment of the detention orders.

On this, Justice Paracha directed the representatives of the federal and provincial governments to provide a copy of the detention orders to the petitioner’s counsel.

He also told Mr Siddiqui that a separate petition must be filed for Mr Khwaja’s release.

Meanwhile, the petitioner’s counsel told Dawn that he had been provided with a copy of the detention order, and that he would file a contempt petition in the high court on Saturday.

Khalid Khwaja had been at the forefront in the struggle for the release of hundreds of missing people, and he was picked up by government agencies on January 26 when he went to a mosque in Sector G-10 for morning prayers.

Mr Khwaja’s family started a search but failed to locate him. However, a few days later he was produced before a local court with the allegations that he was involved in distributing pamphlets fanning sectarianism and religious hatred.