PESHAWAR, Dec 20: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday accepted a request to make Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf a party in the case it is hearing against the US drone attacks in tribal areas.

A bench of the court consisting of Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk directed the petitioners Advocate FM Sabir and the Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC) to provide the court the postal address of the former president within seven days for serving the summons.

The bench also issued fresh notices to respondents in the case, including federal defence, interior and foreign secretaries, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and political agents of North and South Waziristan tribal agencies, for filing comments on the petitions within 20 days.

In the petition, Mr Sabir requested the court to direct the government to immediately stop drone attacks by the US, saying they are against the collective will of the country's 180 million people, especially those of North and South Waziristan agencies.

The DPC and six others sought issuance of the court's orders to the government for making public the 'secret deal' between the Pakistani and US governments about drone attacks in the Tribal Areas.

The petitioners claimed that the US drones had so far carried out 277 attacks in Pakistan killing 1,680 people and injuring 2,634.

The second petition is filed by the DPC through its provincial convener and provincial chief of JUI-Samiul Haq group Yousaf Shah, former deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Ikramullah Shahid, All Pakistan Abdul Qayyum Khan League, central information secretary of Jamiat-i-Ahl-i-Hadith, Tanzeem-i-Islami's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, JUI-Nazriyati group and district president of Ahle Hadees-wa-Jamaat Maulana Mohammad Ismail.

As the bench began hearing into the petitions, Mr Sabir said he had filed an application for inclusion of Musharraf in the case as respondent as it was the former military ruler's government that did a 'secret deal' with that of the US.

The petitioner said it was reported in the media that Musharraf had planned to return home in January and that renovation of his house in Chak Shahzad, Islamabad was in progress.

The bench asked him how Musharraf could formally be asked to appear before it in the case as he was currently abroad. On reply, it asked him to produce postal address of the former military ruler for delivery of a summons.

Mr Sabir said hundreds of innocent people, including women and children, had so far been killed in the US drone attacks, which violated their fundamental rights, international law and Pakistan's sovereignty.

Moazam Butt, lawyer of the second petitioner, said it was the fundamental right of his clients and the people of the country to know about the 'secret deal' between the two countries on drone attacks.

The bench asked if the petitioners could be termed aggrieved people in line with the Article 199 of the Constitution.

Mr Butt said the Article 19-A of the Constitution allowed his clients to access information about all matters of public importance, including 'secret deal' between Pakistani and the US governments about drone attacks.