OTTAWA - Lawyers for a military hearing into prisoner hand-overs in Afghanistan accused the federal government Wednesday of cherry-picking which documents it turns over.

The lead counsel for the Military Police Complaints Commission said there seems to be a "weaning-out of documents" released to the inquiry.

"What we appear to be receiving is a subset of a larger collection of documents," Ron Lunau said.

He added he is "very concerned . . . we're not necessarily seeing all of the documents" related to the detainee affair.

Thousands of pages have already been given to the civilian-run military watchdog, but thousands more are caught in a paper jam as government lawyers scrub out secret information.

Government lawyer Alain Prefontaine told the hearing Wednesday that picking and choosing documents is necessary to avoid adding to the backlog. As it is, some key documents are still weeks from being ready.

"We can certainly add to the chain all the documents that we've weeded out," Prefontaine said.

"Understanding, though, that the only impact this will have is to lengthen the queue and lengthen the time that it's going to take to revise everything."

Acting commission chair Glenn Stannard wasn't satisfied with the time it's taking the government to plow through the documents.

A Canadian general and a senior Foreign Affairs official have been summoned next week to explain the delays.

Foreign Affairs deputy minister Len Edwards and Brig.-Gen. Richard Blanchette of Defence headquarters are to appear at the hearing Tuesday.

Buried somewhere in the reams of paperwork still under review are a series of reports by former foreign-service worker that documented allegations of abuse in Afghan jails.

The reports by Nicholas Gosselin cover at least eight claims of mistreatment by Afghan authorities between January and August 2008. Word of their existence emerged when Gosselin testified at the hearings last week.

Prefontaine said the Gosselin reports could be turned over May 7, barring any unforeseen delays.

Lunau lamented the time it's taking to turn over documents.

"Look, we've been at this since -- what? -- June 2008, when the public hearing was announced," he said. "That's two years ago."

The wrangling over the document delays reached a head Tuesday when Prefontaine snapped "The documents will be turned over to your counsel when they're good and ready" after Stannard asked about them.

The government lawyer later apologized.

The commission is investigating an allegation from Amnesty International Canada and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

The groups say Canadian military police did not properly investigate officers responsible for directing the transfer of detainees to Afghan authorities, allegedly at the risk of torture.

Transferring prisoners between countries knowing they likely face torture is considered a war crime.

In the House of Commons, Liberal MP Bob Rae called the document delays part of a "Conservative culture of deceit."

But Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called Rae's charge "absolutely ridiculous."