Court date for Pakistan suspects

The arrest of Dr Khawaja (centre) and relatives caused unrest

A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities to produce three members of a doctor's family arrested for alleged al-Qaeda links.

Security of the country is supreme as compared to the liberty of suspected elements

MP Akhtar, state attorney

The three, foreigners of Pakistani descent, were part of a group of nine detained last week in the city of Lahore in an operation which reports at the time said involved the American FBI.

Four of those arrested, all members of an extended family, were freed, but two others - including a doctor, Ahmad Javed Khawaja - face charges under Pakistan's anti-terrorism act.

On Tuesday, the court banned the government from moving the three men from its area of jurisdiction.

The ruling was in response to a petition filed by the wife of Dr Khawaja, expressing fears that the three might be extradited to the US.

The arrest of the doctor and members of his family led to protests in Punjab province against the alleged involvement of US officials in the case.

National security

Judge Javed Butter of the Lahore High Court ordered that the three men be produced before him next Tuesday in response to a report submitted by a government lawyer on Friday.

Many organisations have protested the arrests

Deputy Attorney General, Malik Pervaiz Akhtar, reported that Umar Karar and Kaiser Ali - both doctors - and their cousin, Mohammad Usman, were being investigated by a federal intelligence agency.

But he did not disclose the agency's name, and nor would he reveal where the three men were being held.

He also defended the operation in which the men had been arrested.

"There is nothing objectionable in conducting a raid on such elements who are working against the security of Pakistan," he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying, "and maintaining close ties with terrorists."

"Security of the country is supreme as compared to the liberty of suspected elements," he said.

The case follows that of another Pakistani doctor, Aamir Aziz, who was arrested in Lahore for alleged contacts with the Taleban, but later released without charge.