KARACHI, July 5: The Sindh High Court ordered immediate release of two detainees on Saturday and issued notices to the jail superintendent and the provincial home secretary to show cause why they should not be proceeded against for keeping them in confinement after the expiry of their detention order on June 22.

Mohammad Imran and Nawab Khayyam Sarhadi, said to be activists of Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami, were produced by Central Prison Superintendent Rashid Saeed before the division bench of Justices S. Ahmed Sarwana and Mushir Alam, which specially assembled on Saturday.

They were arrested in November 2002 for being in possession of illicit arms and objectionable tracts and tried by an anti- terrorism court, which acquitted them. They were released in March 2003 but rearrested soon afterwards and placed under detention for consecutive 90-days under the Anti-Terrorist Act. The last detention order expired on June 22.

In response to a court query, Additional Advocate-General Suleiman Habibullah submitted that there was no case pending against Imran and Khayyam. Superintendent Rashid Saeed stated that he had sought instructions from the home department but the bench observed that there was no proof of delivery of his letter.

The bench ordered that the detainees be unshackled and set at liberty immediately. It directed that show cause notices be issued to the superintendent and the home secretary to explain within 10 days why action should not be taken against them. The bench would consider their replies on July 16.

Meanwhile, a habeas corpus petition against the detention of Asif Shehryar, MQM-H joint secretary, was declared infructuous by the bench when Additional Advocate-General Qazi Khalid Ali informed it that the detainee was facing trial in a case registered against him under Section 13 (D) of the Arms Ordinance.

He had since been granted bail by the trial court but had failed to furnish security as directed.