LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Rashid Aziz Khan on Monday ordered the release of Sipah-i-Sihaba Chief Maulana Azam Tariq. Declaring his detention illegal, the chief justice directed the government to release him if there was no other criminal case against him. Azam Tariq, through his counsel, had challenged his detention. He said he was invited by the previous Punjab government to attend a meeting which was chaired by ex-law minister Raja Basharat. "The authorities took me to a rest house saying that I was being kept there as an official guest," the SSP chief said in his petition. Later, he was shifted to Okara jail and discovered that he was under detention, he added. The prosecution neither hinted at any other criminal case nor defended Tariq's detention.

GUJRANWALA, Nov 22: The Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan has decided to form divisional and district level committees which will hold talks with army authorities to seek the release of detained SSP leaders and workers.

An SSP meeting held here on Sunday evening observed that Sipah leader Maulana Muhammad Azam Tariq and others had been detained by the ousted government of Mr Nawaz Sharif without any justification.

The meeting resolved to launch a "special drive" if the SSP negotiations with the army could not yield desired results.

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