PESHAWAR, Nov 26: A local court on Saturday summoned five prosecution witnesses in the trial against a British national, Zeeshan Siddiqui, charged with possessing a farged Pakistani identity card.

The court, presided over by judicial magistrate Mohsin Ali Turk, fixed Dec 5, for the next hearing and directed the five witnesses belonging to the Crimes Investigation Department (CID) to appear before the court on the date.

Earlier, the court had summoned them on Saturday, but they did not appear before the court. The defence counsel, Ms Mussarat Hilali, contended that the prosecution had been using delaying tactics to keep the defendant behind bars.

She added that the case was fabricated, as no identity card had been recovered from Mr Siddiqui at the time of his arrest in May last.

The court took exception to the non-appearance of the witnesses and ordered that fresh summons should be issued to them.

The CID has registered an FIR against Mr Siddiqui on May 18, 2005, and charged him with possessing a forged identity card and illegal stay into Pakistan.

For possessing the fake identity card, he has been charged under sections 419, 420, 468 and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code. For illegal stay, he was charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. The trial court has sent the case under the Foreigners Act to the district and sessions judge, observing that the court of judicial magistrate had no jurisdiction over the case.

Mr Siddiqui was arrested from Shabqadar, situated in Charssada district in the north of Peshawar.

The Pakistani and UK intelligence agencies have also interrogated him in connection with the July 7 London bombings, suspecting him of having links with some of the suspects in the case.

Mr Siddiqui has denied all charges and claimed that he had come to Pakistan to study Islam.

Earlier, both the additional district and sessions judge and the magistrate had dismissed bail petitions of Mr Siddiqui in the same case. The CID claimed that after his arrest, Mr Siddiqui introduced himself as Shehzad from Madina Colony, Hyderabad.