PESHAWAR, Oct 3: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday sought comments from the secretary defence and the provincial government in a habeas corpus petition challenging detention of a citizen by an intelligence agency for the last 17 months.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Qaim Jan Khan took up for preliminary hearing the petition jointly filed by father Amir Hamza and brother Muhammad Israr of detainee Ali Sher.

A resident of Mardan district, Ali Sher was picked up allegedly by ISI personnel on May 3, 2005. He is a motor mechanic by profession and used to earn livelihood by driving a motor rickshaw.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioners, vice-chairperson Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Kamran Arif contended that the detention was illegal inasmuch as till date the detainee had not been produced before any court of law nor his family had been informed of his whereabouts.

The respondents in the petition are the Federal Government through the secretary ministry of defence and the provincial government through the NWFP advocate general.

The bench observed that it would be appropriate to seek comments from respondents federal secretary defence and provincial government to ascertain in whose custody the detainee had been.

It has been stated in the petition that the detainee disappeared in a mysterious manner from a market in Mardan and his family kept looking for him for 17 months.

A few days after his disappearance, a news item appeared in newspapers saying that he was in custody of an intelligence agency.

The news report also claimed that the detainee was an Al-Qaeda operative who used to recruit people for the militant organisation.

The petition says that the detainee is innocent and has no link with Al-Qaeda or any other militant organisation.