Lahore, Mar 30: The Pakistan government has ordered a two-month extension of the detention of a doctor and his brother charged with harbouring senior Al-Qaeda officials, a defence lawyer said today. The interior ministry issued the order yesterday coinciding with the expiry of an earlier order keeping doctor Ahmad Javed Khawaja and his brother Ahmad Naveed behind bars for three months, lawyer Pervez Inayat Malik said.
"The suspects are directed to be detained for two months till the next meeting of the review board in Lahore in May 2003," said a letter signed by interior ministry deputy secretary Manzoor Ali Khan. Malik said the order was illegal. "This is illegal and unconstitutional, it is not the interior ministry's jurisdiction," he said.
He said the government was supposed to have approached the three-judge review board before issuing such an order. It is the prerogative of the board to decide whether the detention period should be extended, he said. The accused have already challenged their detention in court and their appeal is due to be heard on Thursday.
The petitioners were captured in a pre-dawn raid on their home in the eastern city of Lahore by US and Pakistani intelligence agents on December 19. Bureau Report