QUETTA, Dec 13: The Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Daud, has denied reports that that he or his Arab guests arrested by US forces while they were returning from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday night, he said that he and his guests had been stopped by the US forces at a checkpoint in the Spin Boldak area of Afghanistan due to some wrong information conveyed to them.

Prince Faisal Daud, Nawabzada Aminullah Raisani, Mir Wadood Raisani and a large number of tribal elders were present on the occasion. "We were stopped at the checkpoint because of wrong information passed on to US forces by an official of the Afghan foreign office from Kandahar," he said.

However, he said, after checking their passports, travel documents and luggage, the US army allowed them to go. The entire process was completed in one and a half hours. He said that later a colonel of the US army called on him and apologized for having stopped them at the checkpoint and for checking the luggage and documents.

The colonel said that an official of the Afghan foreign ministry in Kandahar had informed the coalition forces that some Al Qaeda suspects were travelling with the convoy. The Khan of Kalat also said that he and his guests had gone to Afghanistan on legal travel documents.

He said that after checking their travel documents, the administrative head of the Spin Boldak checkpoint made them his guests. He said that after staying for a full day in Spin Boldak, they crossed into Pakistan in the afternoon.

Mir Suleman Daud said his guests from Qatar wanted to help Afghan people in the reconstruction of their country and the purpose of their visit was to launch some projects in health and education sectors in southern Afghanistan. He said there were two groups and both wanted that these projects should be launched with their assistance which might have caused this incident.

Replying to a question, he said that he had filed no complaint with the Afghan government about the incident. "The matter is with these people, how they provided wrong information to US forces," Mir Suleman Daud said and added that the issue would be resolved in accordance with local tradition.

Earlier, the Khan of Kalat and his guests were brought to Quetta in a big motorcade from the border town of Chaman. The convoy was led by Mir Suleman Daud's younger brother Prince Faisal Daud, provincial minister for communications, and a large number of tribal elders.