LAHORE, Feb 4: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday asked the federal government to clarify the legal status of Al Qaeda in Pakistan and the consequences of harbouring its activists.

Justice Javed Buttar asked these questions while hearing the arguments of Deputy Attorney General Sher Zaman Khan on a petition against the detention of Dr Ahmad Javed Khwaja and four members of his family. The DAG had claimed that harbouring the activists of Al Qaeda amounted to anti-state activity.

The DAG was directed to seek instructions from the government as to whether it had publicly declared Al Qaeda an anti-terrorist organisation and whether harbouring its activists in Pakistan constituted an offence under the law.

The state was further asked to disclose the sources which had led it to conclude that the accused had harboured four Al Qaeda activists at their residence in Manawan.

In its report, the federal government had accused the Khwajas of harbouring at their residence the head of Al Qaeda’s North African network, Abu Faraj, Al Qaeda’s Algerian supervisor Abu Yasir, Egyptian Asadullah and Al Qaeda’s Egyptian financial chief, Sheikh Said Al Misri.

The DAG submitted that while considering the circumstances leading to the detention of Khwajas, the court should take into account the post-9/11 political and strategic events in Pakistan and the rest of world.

Al Qaeda was one of the major targets of the coalition against terrorism, the counsel said, adding that Pakistan would stand by its allies against any terrorist activity.

According to the DAG, the doctrine of a trichotomy of power was enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan, under which none of the three organs of the state — legislature, judiciary, executive — could intervene in actions of others taken in good faith.

The detention orders, passed by the executive under the Security of Pakistan Act 1952, were issued in the best interest of the country, and the court should not encroach on such orders, the counsel requested.

The DAG argued that even if the court felt that the case against Khwajas did not fulfil some procedural formality, it should not grant relief to them in view of the gravity of charges.

He said that none of the submissions of petitioners’ counsel, made on the last hearing, were maintainable under the present circumstances.

Punjab Advocate General Shabbar Raza Rizvi would present his point of view on the petition on Feb 7.