ISLAMABAD, June 2: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, on Friday took up the case of a nuclear scientist detained by the government and asked the ISI director-general and secretaries for interior and defence to present a detailed report about the detention.

When the case was opened, standing counsel Raja Iftikhar Ahmad Javed, representing the federal government, produced a letter before the court and said the nuclear scientist, Attiqur Rehman, was not in the custody of the Inter Services Intelligence.

However, the petitioner’s counsel, Ikram Chaudhary, objected to it and said they were not satisfied with the reply of the standing counsel. He said a detailed report stating reasons for Mr Attiq’s detention and his whereabouts should be presented in the court.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha directed the ISI director-general and the secretaries for interior and defence to present a report and para-wise comments on June 13, 2006.

Attiqur Rehman was associated with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. He was picked up from his house in Abbottabad about two years ago on the day of his marriage, says his father Siddiqur Rehman. Since then, the family has no contact with him and does not know where he has been kept.