PESHAWAR, July 3: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday sought comments from the Attorney-General of Pakistan in a writ petition challenging the detention of five Arab employees of a Kuwaiti organization.

The petitioner said that the five detainees were taken into custody at their residences on May 27 by a joint team of the Inter-Service Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pakistan army and the police, and added that their whereabouts were not known. The detainees belong to the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society.

Lawyers Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, Zar Mohammad Afridi and Mohammad Shoaib appeared for the petitioners. The petition was filed by the relatives of the detainees — Hamad Ali, Hassam Khalil, Muhammad Al Ghazali, Al Rasheed, and Jalib Muhammad.

After hearing arguments of the petitioners’ counsel, the division bench comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi pronounced a short order whereby the AGP was asked for comments.

The petitioners contended that the detainees were respectable citizens and had been working in a reputable international non-governmental organization.

They added that the detainees had no links with Al Qaeda or any other controversial organization.

They said that without any arrest warrants the five were picked up in different raids on their residences in Hayatabad Township and other parts of Peshawar.

They said that the relatives of the detainees were not informed about their whereabouts and added that the detainees were not produced before any court of law. The counsel stated that under the Constitution a detainee had to be produced before the concerned court within 24 hours of his arrest.

The counsel requested the court to order the production of the detainees before the court. Moreover, he added, their detention should be declared illegal and they should be set at liberty.