Foreign Office on Friday termed the US State Department's comments with regard to arrest of Professor Mohammad Ismail, father of Gulalai Ismail, as 'unwarranted'. "Professor Mohammad Ismail has been detained by the law enforcement authorities in Peshawar in a case of cyber crime as per our laws," Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said while responding to a question about the State Department's statement on the arrest.

Being a citizen of Pakistan, he said that Professor Ismail is entitled to due process and right of defence provided in the Constitution. "Any comment to the contrary, or a pre-judgment in the matter, is unwarranted", Dr Faisal added. Earlier, the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, headed by Acting Assistant Secretary Alice G. Wells, stated in a tweet: "We are concerned by reports of continued harassment of Gulalai Ismail's family and her father's detention today. We encourage Pakistan to uphold citizen's right to peaceful assembly, expression, and due process".

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019