ISLAMABAD, MAY 10: The mystery regarding the arrest and whereabouts of leading Pakistani journalist Najam Sethi deepened today with Punjab Provincial Government feigning ignorance before the Lahore High Court about his arrest. The case has been referred to a larger bench.Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Sethi's wife Jugnoo Mohsin seeking his production in the court, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokar asked the Advocate General of Punjab to submit a detailed report on his arrest before the larger High Court bench on Wednesday.
The Advocate General of Punjab, Asthar Ausaf Ali, told the court that he had checked up with the police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the two denied arresting Sethi and hence the Provincial Government had ``no idea where he (Sethi) is.''
A federal government spokesman had said on Saturday that Sethi, Editor of The Friday Times had been arrested by the military intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from his Lahore residence for ``endangeringthe sovereignty of the country'' by making some critical comments against the Nawaz Sharif government in New Delhi recently and for his alleged links with Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
In another development, Mohsin claimed that Punjab Governor Shahid Hamid had called her up Sunday evening and asked her to send her husband's clothes through a senior government official in Islamabad as Sethi was currently in the federal capital.
The spokesman also had said Sethi had possible link with the RAW and had been arrested to investigate these links.
Sethi's wife, however, dismissed the government's allegation claiming that her husband had been arrested for helping out a BBC crew in making a film on the alleged corruption of premier Nawaz Sharif.
She also claimed that Sethi had received threats from the government for his involvement with the BBC team even before he had delivered the so-called ``Anti-Pakistan'' lecture in New Delhi on April 30 last.
Copyright © 1999 IndianExpress Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.