LAHORE, Oct 6: Two office-bearers and a lawyer of the Nankana Sahib Tehsil Bar Association on Wednesday challenged their detention by submitting a writ petition with the Lahore High Court.

The petition came for hearing by Justice Muhammad Bilal Khan, who referred it to Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry with the request that the plea might be sent to Justice Ali Nawaz Chauhan who was already seized of the matter pertaining to the Nankana bar.

Bar president Rana Asghar Ali, secretary Amin Bhatti and a former president, Barkat Ali Ghayyoor, were detained by the home department under section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance on the grounds that they were likely to disturb public peace. The three lawyers are also facing charges of sedition and a case against them has been registered.

Justice Ali Nawaz Chauhan on Tuesday reserved judgment in the writ petition they had filed separately seeking quashment of the FIR. Earlier, the court attempted a conciliation between the two groups of the bar with the help of a Lahore High Court Bar Association committee, headed by its president Ahmad Awais.

The committee reported its failure after which the court proceeded in the writ petition. The LHCBA is representing the detained lawyers and its secretary Azam Nazir Tarar appeared to defend them in court.