PESHAWAR, Aug 17: Shahabuddin Hekmatyar, younger brother of Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan’s chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has been detained.

According to preliminary reports, he was picked up near Tehkal on the University Road by intelligence personnel. He was with his children.

A source close to Shahabuddin’s family told Dawn that he had been living in the Shamshato suburbs which earlier had a refugee camp.

He said that Mr Shahabuddin was a businessman and had nothing to do with the Hizb-i-Islami. Unlike Mr Gulbuddin, who was wanted by the Americans, his brother led an ordinary life, he said.

He quoted a son of Shahabuddin as saying that his family had been contacted by an intelligence official and informed that his father was safe and everything would be alright soon.

An official of the University Town police station told Dawn that no complaint had been filed and said that they had heard about the incident and were not sure whether he had been picked up by any agency or some other people.