KARACHI, Aug 30: The Sindh High Court asked the federal government to make all efforts for the release of Pakistanis held at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere and send quarterly progress reports to the families.

Disposing of a contempt application moved by detained businessman Saifullah Paracha’s wife against the government’s failure to ensure his welfare and protect his interests in terms of Sept 2003 court order, a division bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Mohammad Afzal Soomro ordered that all-out efforts be made for the release and repatriation of Saifullah Paracha and other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, a US prison in Cuba, and elsewhere.

Mrs Farhat Paracha submitted in her application moved through Advocate Nisar A. Mujahid that the authorities had failed to comply with the September 2003 court order and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and the federal cabinet secretary should be tried for contempt of court. She said US President George W. Bush had announced his administration’s intention to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and send home its inmates but, she feared, Saifullah might not be sent back to Pakistan and he might be tried in the United States like their son, Uzair Paracha, who had been tried and convicted on charges of facilitating the entry of a terrorist into the US.

Mr Kasuri said in his affidavit that all possible efforts had been made by the government, which had kept track of the detainees. Five detainees had already been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan. He talked to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the detainee during her latest visit to Pakistan. The court order had been complied with in letter and in spirit and he was not liable to any proceedings.

Deputy Attorney-General Akhtar Ali Mahmood submitted that the government had taken steps to comply with the court order and assured the court that the government would continue to strive for Saifullah’s release.

The bench disposed of the application with a direction to the government to send quarterly progress reports to the families.