KARACHI, Jan 15: The Sindh High Court quashed on Thursday the detention of former provincial minister Altaf Husain Unnar under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and ordered his release.

The ex-minister was taken into preventive custody for one month on Dec 23 after bail was granted to him by the high court in an anti-terrorism case.

Earlier, the court had ordered his shifting to hospital for treatment of heart and kidney ailments but the department only shifted him from the Hyderabad jail to the Karachi Central Prison to facilitate his treatment at the Kidney Centre or the NICVD.

Representing the detainee, Advocate Waseeq Ahmed Kehar contended that the detention order was mala fide as it was aimed at frustrating the bail order. The detainee was bed-ridden and could pose no threat to public order.

There were no plausible grounds for his detention and the home department order was arbitrary, unconstitutional and violative of the detainee’s fundamental rights.

The respondent home department filed its comments but a division bench comprising Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Faisal Arab held that it failed to disclose any ground or produce any material to justify the impugned detention order.

A person could not be deprived of his liberty for subjective reasons. They struck down the order and ordered the detainee’s release. Additional Advocate-General Syed Miran Mohammad Shah appeared for the home department.