ISLAMABAD, 21 January 2004 — The detention of a senior Pakistani nuclear official, taken from his home Saturday night amid allegations nuclear information was leaked to Iran, has been challenged by his wife in a court petition. High Court Judge Anwarul Haq confirmed yesterday he accepted a petition regarding Maj. Islamul Haq, a senior aide to the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.
Islam and seven others linked to Pakistan’s key uranium-enrichment facility, Kahuta Research Laboratories, were picked up from their homes late Saturday for “debriefing sessions” in the wake of reports from the international nuclear watchdog.
“We have sought the high court’s intervention to declare the detention of Maj. Islam as illegal and unconstitutional,” lawyer Ikram Chaudhry said.
The petition was filed on behalf of Islam’s wife Nilofer. “We have asked the court that the government be restrained from handing him over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation or any other foreign agency,” Chaudhry said.
The judge has directed the government, including the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence, to submit a response to the court on Friday, Chaudhry said.
A son of nuclear scientist Nazir Ahmed, who is also under investigation, said the family was considering petitioning the court.
“We just want our father back,” Usman Ahmed, son of the KRL chief engineer, said.
A lawyers organization said it would boycott courts on Jan. 23 to protest the “illegal” arrest and interrogation of scientists and senior administration officials associated with a nuclear facility.
“We condemn the arrests of our national heroes... it is a total violation of the constitution that protects citizens’ fundamental rights,” Mohammed Ikram Chuadhry, vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Council, told reporters after the council’s meeting.
