PESHAWAR, Sept 2: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court disposed of on Thursday a habeas corpus petition challenging alleged illegal detention of two persons by the intelligence agencies since last 50 days.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ijazul Hassan, observed that the petition had become infructuous as all the agencies had expressed ignorance about the detention of one of the detainees, Nasir Khan.

The second detainee, Mohammad Abid Ayaz alias Ismael, was arrested in North Waziristan and has been detained in D.I.Khan prison. The petition was filed by Abid Khan, a close relative of the two detainees.

The Deputy Attorney-General of Pakistan, Salahuddin Khan, stated before the bench on Thursday that he had contacted all the concerned intelligence agencies and they were not aware of the whereabouts of the detainee, Nasir Khan.

The petitioner had stated that both Nasir and Ismael were picked up by the officials of Bannu police station intelligence agency on July 10 and since then their whereabouts were not known.

The petitioner stated that the detainees were picked up in front of a large number of people and there were many witnesses in this regard. He added that the police had also taken away Rs150,000 from the PCO, but later on the money was returned back.

PLEA WITHDRAWN: A habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of an alleged terrorist, Abdul Basit, was withdrawn in the high court on Thursday. The petition was filed by Abdul Sattar, brother of the detainee.

The petitioner's counsel, Khurshid Ahmad Shahan, contended before a two-member bench of the court that the Crimes Investigation Department (CID) had shown the detention of Abdul Basit and had produced him before the anti-terrorism court.

The counsel said that after his production before the court there was no need of this petition. The bench allowed him to withdraw the petition. The petitioner had stated that his brother ran a mobile phone repairing shop in Qissakhwani Bazaar and was picked up by officials of an intelligence agency on Aug 7 and since then his whereabouts were not known.

The CID claimed that he was trained in making remote control explosive devices and had links with militants.