Petition filed in SC seeking contempt case against TLP leaders

Meanwhile, TLP challenges detention of its leaders in LHC

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: A petitioner has approached the top court, seeking a contempt of court case against Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi and patron-in-chief Pir Afzal Qadri.

In a petition submitted on Tuesday, the applicant, Barrister Masroor Shah, raised questions about the conduct of the two leaders who are currently detained at unknown locations.

“Do they have any permission to use inappropriate words against the court?  Shouldn’t all citizens be faithful to the state in accordance with the Constitution?” the petitioner asked.

Shah pointed out that the two leaders targeted the court in their address to their supporters during a sit-in staged outside the Punjab Assembly after the apex court’s verdict in the Aasia Bibi case on October 31.

Peaceful protest, he said, is everyone’s right in a democratic society, but no one has the right to paralyse the lives of other citizens under the garb of protest. Didn’t the foul language used by the two leaders during the protests amount to contempt of court, he contended.

The petitioner asked the court to begin contempt proceedings against the two leaders.

Khadim Rizvi and hundreds of his party’s supporters were detained in a police action on November 23 after the TLP refused to abandon its plan to stage a rally in Rawalpindi on November 25 to commemorate their last year’s sit-in held in the federal capital.

Arrests challenged

Meanwhile, the detention of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, his son Saad Rizvi and Pir Afzal Qadri was challenged on Tuesday in the Lahore High Court (LHC) by Syed Zafar Hussain Gillani, a TLP member, through a habeas corpus petition.

The petitioner contended that the police had forced their way into the houses of the TLP leaders, arrested them unlawfully and shifted them to undisclosed places. He said the home department and the police, despite repeated requests, had not stated any grounds for the detention of the leaders nor informed the party about their whereabouts.

The petitioner claimed that no FIR or complaint had been lodged against the TLP leaders so far. He argued that the detainees had been arrested without any prior notification and without giving any opportunity of hearing, which is a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

The petitioner pleaded that Article 10 of the Constitution clearly stated that no person who was arrested should be detained without being informed about the grounds of arrest, nor should he be denied the right to consult a legal adviser.

He also expressed the apprehension that the authorities would torture the TLP leaders during their ‘illegal’ detention. The petitioner asked the court to get the TLP leaders freed from the custody of the government and also declare their detention null and void.