PESHAWAR, July 8: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday put on notice the NWFP advocate-general in a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of a man allegedly by the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) for more than four months.

The bench, comprising the high court's Chief Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Fazalur Rehman Khan fixed July 15 for the next hearing and ordered the advocate-general to appear before the court on that date.

The petitioner, Khalil Ahmad, claimed that his brother Rafique Ahmad was picked by the intelligence agency at Zangali checkpoint on Kohat Road in February. He stated that whereabouts of the detainee had not been known since then.

The detainee was also arrested in 2002 in Kohat after some armymen were attacked there. He was later on handed over to the administration of North Waziristan agency and was detained at Miramshah.

In July 2002, the detainee, along with other four arrested men, started hunger strike in the lock-up. Finally, he was released when a habeas corpus petition was filed in October 2002.

In February this year the detainee was again arrested by the agencies when he was travelling towards Kohat. Initially, a habeas corpus petition was filed in which the police department was made a respondent.

All police stations in the province expressed ignorance about his detention after which the petition was withdrawn with the permission of the court to file a fresh petition.

Advocate Arif Khan filed the instant petition and argued that the detention of the detainee was illegal and unconstitutional. He contended that if the detainee had committed any crime he should be produced before the court concerned and should be tried under the law concerned. The respondents in the petition are the Peshawar Corps Commander, Federation of Pakistan through Secretary of interior and officials of ISI in Peshawar and Islamabad.