KARACHI, July 30: A new petition was on Wednesday allowed to be filed against the alleged arrest and detention of a businessman, Saifullah Paracha, as the old one was dismissed as withdrawn by a division bench of the Sindh High Court.

Petitioner Farhat Paracha, wife of the detainee, informed the bench comprising Justices Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Azizullah M. Memon that she did not want to press her petition against the FIA filed through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed. She said she had moved a new petition impleading all the necessary parties and containing new facts and grounds and a new cause of action. It had been filed through Advocate Nisar A. Mujahid and was fixed for hearing on Thursday before another division bench comprising Justices Zahid Kurban Alavi and Zia Perwez.

The FIA, meanwhile, submitted through federal government standing counsel Syed Ziauddin Nasir that it had contacted the Thai consulate in compliance with the court order. According to the consulate, Paracha was given a two-month tourist visa as requested by him. He also told the consulate that he would travel to China after his Thailand visit. Information was being sought regarding his whereabouts in Bangkok. The FIA had earlier informed the bench that Paracha was cleared by its immigration staff to board the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok on July 5.

The new petition impleads the federal interior and foreign ministry, the immigration and passport offices, the Sindh government and police, the civil aviation and airport authorities and Thai Airways. It says that Paracha applied for a Thai visa on receiving a call from his American business partner. The partner, Charles Anteby, called the petitioner on July 6, a day after Paracha was to arrive in Bangkok. Why her husband did not reach the Thai capital? It seeks production of the Bangkok airport record to ascertain whether Paracha reached there and underwent immigration formalities.