LAHORE, Dec 13: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday disposed of as been withdrawn a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of 10 Jamaat-i-Islami workers, who were taken into police custody from Lahore on Nov 30 to thwart an MMA rally to Gujrat.

The court allowed the petition to be withdrawn after the Punjab government submitted a report, in compliance with a court notice, stating that the workers had been detained for a period of 90 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, and sent to different Punjab prisons.

Justice Sheikh Javed Sarfraz later observed that the situation warranted that the petitioner, Hafiz Salmat Butt, a former MNA and the Jamaat’s Lahore amir, should move the home secretary in a representation to avail the opportunity of exhausting an alternative remedy to redress the grievances. The court observed that in case the representation did not bear the fruit, the petitioner could move the LHC in a fresh petition.

Advocate Asad Manzoor Butt, the counsel for the petitioner, who requested for the withdrawal of the petition, submitted that 10 Jamaat workers were arrested from Mansoora and Chauburji areas on Nov 30. A case was registered against them under section 188 PPC (violation of ban on rallies). He submitted that a judicial magistrate allowed them to be released on bail on Nov 4, but the prison authorities declined to obey the release orders.

He said habeas corpus petition was moved later because the workers were not released despite a court order. He submitted that a majority of the detainees were above 60 years of age but the Punjab government shifted them to prisons in remote areas of the province. — Correspondent