The bench also appointed Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, SM Zafar and Abid Hassan Manto as amicus curie to assist the court.
The bench, headed by Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, decided to go ahead with ex parte proceedings after no one appeared on behalf of the federal government for the past several hearings.
The bench had also called the federal law secretary to appear, but he to did not turn up.
On Thursday, Advocate AK Dogar said that the court had to decide Asif Ali Zardari’s eligibility to hold the office of president as the holding of a political office simultaneously with an administrative one had become a secondary issue.
He said that Zardari suffered pre-election disqualification when he filed nomination papers for a non-political office (president) while holding a political office (co-chairperson of the PPP).
During the course of the hearing, the bench referring to the case of former president Musharraf, observed that the apex court had already decided the matter of president’s dual offices on merits but it was not implemented.
The bench adjourned the hearing on the petitions till Oct 21.
These petitions were moved by AK Dogar of the Pakistan Lawyers Forum, Ghulam Jilani and Asif Mahmood Khan.
On June 21, lawyers representing President Zardari, headed by Talib H Rizvi, had walked out in protest after the bench dismissed an application challenging the maintainability of the petition against holding dual offices.
According to the petitioners, President Zardari had violated Article 41 (1) of the Constitution by holding a political office. They said the president, being head of the state, cannot hold an office of a political party.
The petitioners requested the court to direct President Zardari to surrender the office of co-chairperson of PPP.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2010.
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