Pakistani terror trial 'must proceed'

Only two of five family members held are charged

Shahid Malik BBC reporter in Lahore

A Pakistani judge has ruled that the trial of a doctor alleged to have harboured al-Qaeda suspects must go ahead - despite a government plea for a postponement.

Dr Ahmed Javed Khawaja and his brother, Ahmed Naveed Khawaja, are accused of sheltering wanted al-Qaeda men in a residential compound near Lahore.

There is nothing on record to substantiate the apprehension [that the trial may cause a serious law and order situation]

Judge Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa

The prosecution had applied for a postponement because it feared the trial would cause ''a serious law and order situation''.

But the judge said the plea was ''without merit''.

Anti-terrorism judge Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa agreed with defence counsel Pervaiz Inayat Malik that the prosecution's plea was not in line with the provisions of the anti-terrorism law, which is aimed at speedy trials.

In an eleven-page order, the judge rejected special public prosecutor Rana Bakhtiar Ali's appeal as ''legally not competent and otherwise without merit''.

Family detained

The two accused have been produced three times before the court in Lahore, the judge observed, and there was ''nothing on record to substantiate the apprehension [that their production may cause a serious law and order situation]''.

Anti-US feelings have made the law and order situation tense

The prosecution has been directed to produce the two brothers before the court on 28 January, when they will be handed copies of police evidence against them.

Five members of the Khawaja family, taken into custody on 19 December for alleged al-Qaeda links, are in detention under a security law.

But only two of them are formally facing criminal charges.

A government statement has named the al-Qaeda men sheltered as:

• Abu Yasir al-Jazairi, an Algerian-Moroccan national responsible for al-Qaeda business affairs.

• Sheikh Said al-Masri, an Egyptian national in charge of al-Qaeda finances.

• Assadullah, an Egyptian national from the militant Jamaat al-Islamiyyah group.

• Abu Faraj, head of al-Qaeda's North African network and deputy to Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to have helped plan the 11 September attacks.

There is no indication of the current whereabouts of those named.

The security forces originally arrested nine members of the family in December, reportedly with help from the FBI.

Four were subsequently released.