LAHORE, Nov 28: The Lahore High Court adjourned the hearing of nuclear scientists’ habeas corpus petitions on Wednesday for submissions on the legality and propriety of detention of a citizen for questioning on a sensitive issue and of a notice to the President in the matter.

Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday heard the petitioners’ counsel, Muhammad Ismail Qureshy and Mian Jamil Akhtar, from about 9am to 10:30am and asked at the end of hearing whether it would not be better for the detainees and their dependents to await their release in the light of official statements that there was no material against them and that they would be freed in due course.

Mr Ismail Qureshy spoke at length about the contribution of the detainees, particularly Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, to the development of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. As for their links to Kabul, he produced copies of a commerce ministry letter to Mr Mahmood’s Ummah Tamir-i-Nau Trust allowing it to import equipment and machinery for agricultural development of Afghanistan on the condition that they would ultimately be brought back to Pakistan. The authorization was issued in early September but the government policy underwent a radical change after Sept 11.

The lawyer referred to the statements of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his ministers praising the services of nuclear scientists to the country. He heavily relied on the President’s latest PTV interview declaring that there was no material against the scientists and that they were being held in ‘protective custody’.

Mr Qureshy said the President’s statement meant that there was neither any case against the detainees nor were they in preventive custody. The high court was thus all the more obliged to order their production. The question of a notice to the president did not arise. Nor was it in keeping with the dignity of the court to wait for their release.

When Mr Qureshi cited a number of past habeas corpus cases, including the petitions filed for the production and release of Shorish Kashmiri, Chaudhry Zahur Ilahi and Maulvi Farid Ahmad, the judge observed that they were all politicians and the mala fide of the detaining authority stood proved. The case of scientists was different.

While Mr Qureshi appeared for Mr Mahmood’s mother, Fazilat Bibi, who moved the court on Monday, Advocate Mian Jamil Akhtar represented petitioner-lawyer MD Tahir, who filed a petition on Nov 5. He submitted that never before in Pakistan’s judicial history, a habeas corpus petition had remained unheard for such a long time. He pressed for a production order as the scientists were being kept in unlawful detention. Nobody could be confined for mere questioning for over a month, he said.