PESHAWAR, Aug 26 The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday declared the detention of three sons of Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Muham-madi chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance as illegal and unconstitutional.

A single bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan allowed a writ petition filed by the three petitioners — Ziaullah, Rizwanullah and Hayatullah — and directed that they should be set at liberty if they were not required in any other case.

The bench had reserved its judgment on Tuesday and pronounced a short order on Wednesday.

The petitioners along with Sufi Mohammad were arrested from their residence here at Sethi Town on July 26 by the law enforcement agencies.

Their detention order was issued by Peshawar District Coordination Officer Sahibzada Anees under section 3 of the MPO for a period of one month on July 27.

The impugned order had to expire on Aug 26, but on Tuesday the DCO extended their detention period for one more month under the MPO.

The DCO, when contacted, told Dawn that after the court's verdict he had not issued any fresh order for the detention of the petitioners. He added that he had issued the extension of the detention order on Tuesday, but with the judgment of the high court that order was now not in the field.

He said that they would see if the petitioners were not required in any other case then they would be released.

The petitioners' counsel Mohammad Atlas Khan contended before the bench that they were innocent and there were no grounds available with the administration to detain them under the MPO.

He stated that the impugned order of the DCO was illegal and unconstitutional. He added that the petitioners were law abiding citizens and there was no threat to public order from them.

He pointed out that the petitioner Rizwanullah had been settled in Saudi Arabia for the last 13/14 years, while Hayatullah was a PTC teacher in a government-run school in Lower Dir and Ziaullah was doing his post-graduation in Islamiyat from Malakand University.

The high court adjourned hearing of the petition on various occasion so as to allow the government to produce material against the petitioners on the basis of which the impugned order was issued.

However, the respondents could not produce any relevant material on the basis of which the detention order was issued.

The bench observed that the government had the powers to detain a person with a view to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order, but grounds had to be given for such detention.

The detention of Maulana Sufi Mohammad has so far not been challenged as apart from his detention under the MPO the government has also registered a case against him in Swat under different provisions of the Anti Terrorism Act and Pakistan Penal Code mostly on the basis of a speech delivered by him on April 19, 2009, in Mingora.