PESHAWAR, Jan 9: The Peshawar High Court on Friday put on notice the political agent and assistant political agent of Khyber Agency in writ petitions filed by three persons challenging their alleged illegal detention under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

A two-member bench comprising Justice Jehanzeb Raheem and Justice Muhammad Alam Khan fixed Jan 13 for next hearing with the directives to the respondents including PA, APA and local police to clarify their position.

The petitioners Abdul Hakeem, Zahoor Ali and Muhammad Ilyas claimed that they were residents of Mathani in Peshawar and had never committed any crime in the tribal areas.

Advocate Hidayatullah Afridi appeared for the petitioners and stated that the local police arrested the petitioners on Nov 13, 2008, from Mathani area without any arrest warrant. He added that the petitioners were not involved in any crime and thus their arrest was illegal and unconstitutional.

Mr Afridi contended that after keeping the petitioners in illegal detention for many days the Peshawar police handed them over to the tribal administration of Khyber Agency.

He stated that the assistant political agent (APA) of Bara, Khyber Agency, sent them to the Peshawar jail under section 40 of the FCR. He added that the tribal administration had not mentioned any crime in which they were involved.

He argued that the continuous detention of the petitioners was against the law and may be set at liberty.

NOTICE ISSUED: The high court issued notice to the station house officer (SHO) of Pabbi police station in Nowshera in a habeas corpus petition challenging alleged illegal detention of a citizen for the last over a month.

The petition is filed by Ms Ranra, wife of the alleged detainee Khalid Khan, a resident of Arbab Road in Peshawar.

A two-member bench fixed Jan 13 for next hearing directing the SHO to appear and clarify his position.

The woman stated that on Dec 5, 2008, the officials of Pabbi police station raided her residence and took away her husband. She added that the next day they again visited her residence and took away all the valuable items.

The petitioner stated that on some of the occasions the police contacted her on phone and she heard the screaming of her husband who was tortured by them. She added that the policemen made some illegal demands from her which she could not fulfill.

Her counsel contended that they had visited Pabbi police station but could not find the detainee there. He added that the police had shifted him to an undisclosed location.

He contended that the detainee had not been produced before any court and his continuous detention was illegal. He added that if the detainee was involved in any crime he should be produced before the concerned court of law instead of disappearing him.