PESHAWAR, Feb 7: A bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the federal and the NWFP governments to file written comments within four days in reply to a writ petition, challenging the detention of alleged Al-Qaeda members in the Kohat prison.

The bench, comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi, decided to hold the next week hearing of the petition filed by a former MNA of the Pakistan Muslim League, Jawed Ibraheem Paracha.

The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwer remarked that the petition was of immense importance as the detainees had been kept in the prison illegally.

In the absence of the deputy attorney-general, Additional Advocate-General Hamid Farooq Durrani appeared before the court on behalf of the federal and the provincial governments. He sought from the court time for furnishing comments in reply to the petition.

The petitioner’s lawyer contended that as the detention of the Al Qaeda men was a federal subject, comments should also be sought from the federal government. The petition gave the names of 57 detainees, stating that they had been detained in inhuman conditions.

The detainees belonged to Eqypt, Morocco, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Behrain, Spain, Algeria, France and Sudan. They are reported to have been shifted from Kohat and handed over to the US government.

Mr Paracha prayed to the court to declare that the arrests and the confinement of the detainees was illegal and unlawful.