A judge in Pakistan has ordered the government to disclose the whereabouts of a leading doctor apparently detained for suspected links with the Taleban.

This court does not work on suppositions

Lahore High Court Judge Jilani

Judge Tasadduq Hussain Jilani said he found it hard to believe officials did not know where Dr Aamir Aziz, one of the country's top orthopaedic surgeons, was being held.

Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider has confirmed Dr Aziz's arrest, but in court government lawyers have consistently denied this.

At a hearing in Lahore, the judge ordered the Ministry of Interior to bring the doctor before the High Court on Friday.

He said Dr Aziz could not be detained except in accordance with the law.

The doctor's family and friends say he was taken away three weeks ago by Pakistani officials working with US agents, who are pursuing Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives in the country.

Dr Aziz visited Afghanistan during the Taleban rule.

But his family say he went to rebuild a medical college and had no links with the Taleban themselves.

Intelligence link?

Lawyers for the government have argued that Dr Aziz is not being held by any organisation under the Ministry of Interior.

On Tuesday, they agreed to find out whether he was being held by Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency, the ISI.

Judge Jilani dismissed suggestions the court's jurisdiction did not extend to the ISI, whose status has often been the subject of legal debate.

"This court does not work on suppositions," he said at Wednesday's hearing.

And he brushed aside the lawyers' denials that Dr Aziz was being detained at all, saying that was not disputed.

The judge ruled last week that the doctor could not be extradited without the court's say-so.

Mr Haider insists no such request from the US has been received.