ISLAMABAD, May 9: The government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) on Thursday expressed its inability to produce before the Islamabad High Court a citizen who went missing in 2011 and later was found in the custody of intelligence agencies.

On May 2, Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retied) Asif Yasin Malik had informed the court that Rana Amir had been kept in an internment centre at Lakki Marwat.

He suggested that the KP government may be asked to produce him before the court.

Subsequently, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui directed the provincial government to produce the detained man otherwise contempt proceedings would be initiated against the officers concerned.

When Justice Siddiqui resumed hearing of the case on Thursday and was about to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the ministry of interior and the KP government authorities, deputy attorney general Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri informed him that because of the critical security in the province and engagement of the army and other law enforcement agencies in the elections-related security duty, the production of the suspect was not possible.

He said on May 8 the province saw at least seven incidents of bomb blasts.

He also produced a letter from the KP home and tribal affairs department narrating the poor security situation in the province.

The letter of May 8 stated that Lakki Marwat, where the suspect was detained, bordered with North Waziristan Agency and was a most sensitive area and infested with militants and terrorists. The KP government, however, suggested that the suspect might be produced on May 15 after the general elections.

“Without sufficient and dedicated security the transit of the suspect to the IHC and back would be extremely dangerous.”

Mr Jahangiri told the court that the army had arrested the suspect from the Khajuri checkpost in NWA on January 13, 2012, and handed him over to the authorities at the Lakki Marwat internment centre.

The court after hearing the arguments accepted the excuse of the KP government but directed it to produce the suspect before the court on the next date of hearing on May 15.

According to the petition filed by Rashida Amir, the wife of the detained man, he went missing in February 2011. She filed the petition with the IHC on May 28, 2012, after failing to get a clue to his whereabouts through the police.