QUETTA, Sept 28: The Balochistan High Court has issued notices to a number of police officers and other respondents in a petition challenging the arrest of about 400 residents of the Killi Ismail suburb of the city during a search operation on Thursday.

The single-judge bench of Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai on Friday ordered the issuing of notices and adjourned the hearing till Oct 2.

Petitioner Ghulam Hussain and other residents of Killi Ismail stated that on Thursday law-enforcement personnel had cordoned off the area and carried out a house-to-house search from early morning. They were not accompanied by women police personnel.

The petition said that the arrested people had not been produced before any court and their family members had not been informed about their whereabouts. The petitioners requested the court to order release of the arrested people.

The court issued notices to PPO, CCPO, SSP city and Balochistan Advocate General.

In another case, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani issued notices to respondents in a petition filed by Munir Mengal for quashing an FIR registered against him.

The petitioner stated that the CID police station had registered the FIR under section 123-A, 124-A, 153, 109, and 505 of PPC.

Munir Mengal was arrested on April 4, 2006, at the Karachi airport and was detained under maintenance of Public Order 3 for two consecutive terms on August 3, 2007.

A court had declared that his detention was without lawful authority.

The Advocate General of Balochistan on Sept 6 placed before the court the home department’s detention order, stating that Munir Mengal was running a website that was involved in anti-state activities.

The notices were issued to incharge of the CID police Quetta, the judge of the ATC No. 2, Quetta, and some officials of the home department. The hearing was adjourned till Oct 8.