Arrested U.S. terror suspects to remain in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 17 -- A high court of Pakistan on Thursday ordered that the five United States nationals arrested in the country on suspicion of planning terrorist activities are not to be deported.

Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Khwaja Sharif, announced that the five are to remain in Pakistan pending further investigation, the private TV Dawn News reported.

Khwaja Sharif also ordered that in the future any case of deportation of foreign nationals arrested in Pakistan is to be referred to the High Court first.

The five U.S. nationals were arrested last week in Sargodha, a city near Lahore, capital of the eastern province of Punjab. Local police said that they wanted to wage "holy war" to fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan and had contacted the banned outfit Jaish-i-Muhammad and Jammatud Dawa which had refused to accommodate them.