PESHAWAR, Nov 6: The Peshawar High Court on Monday put on notice the NWFP advocate-general on a writ petition challenging detention of two persons including a 104-year-old man under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) for more than three years.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Fazlur Rehman Khan took up for hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the Chairman of World Prisoners Relief Commission, Jawed Ibrahim Paracha.

In the petition, detention of four people were challenged. Those four people were: three Afghans, Dilbar Khan (104-year- old), Syed Ameen Shah and Maulana Inayatur Rehman, and a Pakistani national Ismail Khan.

The petitioner’s counsel Qazi Mohammad Anwer informed the court that two of the detainees, Maulana Inayat and Ismail, had been released by the government whereas the other two were still in the prison. He added that the administration was reluctant to release them.

The petitioner claimed that they had been detained without any plausible reason and were initially dubbed as Al Qaeda suspect.

Mr Anwer argued that foreigners could not be arrested under section 40 of the FCR.