The mothers of 13 Malaysian students detained in Karachi, Pakistan five days ago remain in the dark over their sons' whereabouts as officials here were not divulging any extra details.

According to a source from the Internal Security Act (ISA) family support group, some of the anxious mothers had contacted Wisma Putra but failed to obtain any additional information.

"Wisma Putra is saying they don't even have the exact name list. When the mothers call, the officers tell them they will return call once they have more information but this has not happened," said the source who declined to be named.

When contacted yesterday, the mother of one of the detainees, known only as Rohaimah, said she did not know who to call in order to get more details about her 19-year-old son Mohd Radzi Abdul Razak.

Second blow

This is a second blow to Rohaimah as her husband Abdul Razak Baharudin has been detained under the ISA since December 2001 over his alleged links with the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

"No one has contacted me and I don't know who I can call about this," said the distraught mother, whose son is a third-year student at University Abu Bakar in Karachi.

Mohd Radzi and 12 others were arrested by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency last Saturday on suspicions of being involved in activities against the country's national interest.

"I only found out about the arrests when it was reported in the news. I was so shocked that I could only sit there. I just didn't know whom I could call to check," said Rohaimah.

According to her, she spoke to Mohd Radzi hours before he was arrested and he had sounded normal.

"Everything was as usual. He just asked me how I was doing and he said that he might not be able to return home this year because he wanted to use the time to study for his exams.

"He told me he did not do so well in the previous exams so he wanted to put double work into the next one. He asked me to pray for his success," she related.

Valid visa

On her son's studies in Pakistan, Rohaimah said she did not know the details as the arrangements were made by her husband.

She added that Mohd Radzi, the eldest of eight siblings, went to Pakistan after graduating from a religious school in Johor.

"I do not know much else about his studies because his father had set up everything. But now that my husband is detained, my son calls me when he needs money for school fees and I send the funds to him," she said.

"I don't know what can be wrong. He has a valid student visa to study in the school," she lamented, adding that the last time she saw Mohd Radzi was when he came home for Hari Raya last year.

According to a news report yesterday, three other students arrested were also the sons of ISA detainees - former production executive Nordin Ahmad, former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer Dr Abdullah Daud and engineer All-Bakry Mohamed Alias.

The fathers were also arrested for their suspected involvement in JI, which was blamed for the deadly bombings in Bali and Jakarta.

Own probe

Meanwhile, a Home Ministry official denied reports that the students were arrested based on information provided by Malaysian authorities.

"This is not true. Pakistani authorities had acted based on their own investigations," said the official who declined to be named when contacted.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the arrests were made based on information provided by the recently arrested JI leader Hambali.

Abdullah also said Malaysia had requested for the students to be sent home for further questioning.