KARACHI, April 25: A division bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of a Pakistani American’s petition against his detention on Friday for arguments by Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan’s on April 30.

Haris Hasan, who has been exonerated of rape-and-assault charges levelled by the US authorities against him by a judicial magistrate after a preliminary inquiry under the Extradition Act, has been arrested under the Foreigners Act. He is alleged to have returned to Pakistan after committing an offence in Detroit (Michigan) as a US citizen.

He was ordered to be released by the division bench on a petition filed by his father, also a naturalized US citizen who renounced his acquired nationality on return home.

Contempt proceedings against jail officials who declined to free him following his arrest and detention under the Foreigners Act are also pending before the bench.

His counsel Syed Saeeduddin Nasir has taken the plea that the no detention order for three months could be made under the Foreigners Act, which provided for a maximum custody of two months. Haris Hasan was not a foreigner (American citizen) as a notification issued by the federal government in August-2002 added the US and Sweden to the list of countries whose nationals could retain their Pakistani citizenship.

Earlier, dual nationality was permissible only to Pakistanis settled in the Commonwealth states as their citizens.

Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan appeared on Friday in response to a notice and informed the bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, that the attorney-general wanted to make submissions in the case.

He also sought time to file a counter-affidavit and the bench adjourned the hearing to April 30.