PESHAWAR, July 2 The Peshawar High Court on Thursday admitted to full hearing a writ petition filed by a person challenging his conviction by a field general court martial on charges of spying for the US.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the petitioner, Zahir Shah, had raised various legal points which needed consideration.

The bench directed that the case should be fixed within a fortnight and should be placed at serial No. I of the cause list.

The bench also directed the deputy attorney general, Iqbal Mohmand, and Colonel Umer Gul of Judge Advocate General Branch to annex an application with the record to specify which of the documents should be treated as privileged so that those should not be discussed in the open court.

The bench observed that under the law trials and appeals were conducted in open court and unless the authorities gave an application the record could not be treated as classified.

Mr Iqbal Mohmand argued that the petition was not maintainable. He added that the petitioner had confessed his guilt and proper evidence was recorded during the trial.

Earlier, the court had ordered the federal government to file comprehensive reply about the date and place of arrest of the detainee; place and duration of his detention; the date and duration of his trial under the Army Act whether right of defence and right of appeal against his conviction was given to him.

The court ordered that the reply should be supported by all the relevant documents and in case the documents were privileged one those would be perused in the chamber.

Former attorney general Qazi Muhammad Jamil appeared for the petitioner and contended that the case had taken very long time. He requested the bench that till disposal of the petition the sentence of the petitioner may be suspended and he may be released.