The Federal Review Board on Saturday extended the detention of British-Pakistani Rashid Rauf for 90 days and also ordered the detention of another Pakistani of UK origin, Aurangzeb, for the same period.The proceedings of the Federal Review Board were conducted in camera in the Supreme Court, but sources confirmed that Rashid Rauf and Aurnagzeb were presented before the board and detained for 90 days. The Federal Review Board was constituted by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under article 10(4) of the Constitution. Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar of the Supreme Court chairs the board while Justice Hamid Ali Mirza of the Supreme Court and Justice Nadir Khan of the Balochistan High Court are its members.
Rauf was arrested by Pakistani authorities on August 11 from Bahawalpur for his alleged involvement in a reported plot to blow up planes travelling from the UK to the US. His case was initially taken up by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, but the court exonerated him of terrorism charges and referred the case to Rawalpindi civil judge Karim Khan, who sent Rauf on judicial remand.
Aurangzeb was arrested from Karak in NWFP on charges of having links with militant outfits. Advocate Hashmat Habib, who was representing Rauf, told Daily Times said that his client was detained under a substantive law, his case was being heard by a civil judge and as such he should not have been arrested under a preventive law. “The prosecuting authorities might have concealed the judicial history of Rashid from the Federal Review Board, otherwise the board members would not have extended their detention period,” he said.