Islamabad, March 25 (IANS): The director general of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been summoned by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) following a petition by a woman that her husband had gone missing after being allegedly picked up by the spy agency.

The petition against the ISI director-general was filed by Parveen Bibi, the wife of Mohammad Arif, owner of two branches of Dar-i-Arqam School in Iqbal Town and Dhamial Camp and also a printing press in Hathi Chowk, Rawalpindi, who went missing last month, Dawn online reported.

According to the petition, Arif, a resident of Peshawar Road in Rawalpindi Cantonment, went to Khushab along with Ishtiaq Ahmed Aasi, the secretary general of the Pakistan Railways Mazdoor Union, and two other persons named Uzair and Hafiz Rauf to condole the death of a friend there.

The four men were allegedly picked up by the ISI in Khushab. Aasi and Uzair were returned to their homes after a few weeks. The petition also mentioned that the relatives of the two released men informed Parveen Bibi that it was the ISI who had abducted the four men, according to Dawn.

The petition, which Parveen filed in February through her lawyer Zafarul Hassan Joya, made the ministry of interior and the ISI director general respondents.

When Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan resumed the hearing Monday, standing counsel Raja Khalid informed him that the interior ministry was seeking six weeks' time for submitting a report about the missing man.

The plea was, however, rejected and the judge directed the ISI chief to appear in person before the court next week. No ISI representative was present in court during the hearing.

Bibi's lawyer also mentioned during the hearing that the ISI cannot pick up anyone without the family being informed.