ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, hearing habeas corpus petitions challenging the detention of six Khan Research Laboratories officials, was told by the petitioners' counsels on Tuesday that the arrests were made on external pressure and asked to order their production.

Three counsels, representing six detainees, completed their arguments. Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan will present his arguments on Wednesday.

Barrister Tariq Khokhar, representing three of the detainees, argued that the Security of Pakistan Act, 1952, had been invoked to justify the detention, which amounted to a fraud on an act of parliament.

He said that the detentions were in violation of articles four, five, nine, 10 and 14 of the Constitution. He said the respondents had taken three contradictory stands in the court.

When the detention was challenged, the government stated that various agencies were involved, he said and added that later it justified the action under the Army Act and finally took the stand that the officials and scientists had been detained under the Security of Pakistan Act, 1952.

The detention order passed on Jan 31 was an afterthought, mala fide, untenable and without jurisdiction, he said. He said the detainees were being held in solitary confinement, incommunicado and without access to a lawyer.