KARACHI, Feb 1: The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to the interior and defence ministries, as well as the provincial home department, in a petition alleging illegal arrest and confinement and seeking recovery of Mufti Munir Shakir, a religious leader of the NWFP who was picked up on arrival in Karachi on May 16, 2006.

The petition, which did not fully identify the detainee, said Shakir, his son, Abdullah Shah,9, and his friend, Mohammad Farooq, arrived by a private airline at Karachi airport. They were intercepted while on their way to arrival lounge and confined in separate rooms of the basement of a decrepit building. Farooq and Abdullah were taken to Peshawar by air.

They were escorted to Governor’s House and released after warnings against ‘litigation’ over their confinement or the continued detention of Munir Shakir in Karachi. Petitioner Rehmat Shah, father of Shakir, also introduced himself as a ‘religious scholar’ to his counsel, Nisar A. Mujahid.

A division bench comprising CJ Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab issued notices to the respondent ministries of interior, defence and Sindh home department for Feb 13.—Staff Reporter