LAHORE:
A full bench of the Lahore High Court hearing a petition seeking a treason case against Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan sought assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan to decide whether the petition was maintainable.
Qadri and Khan are accused of attempting to create anarchy in the country.
When the bench resumed hearing on Monday, Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked Advocate AK Dogar, the petitioner’s counsel, whether or not the court had jurisdiction in the matter under Article 199 of the Constitution.
Dogar said that the Constitution empowered the court to protect the rights of citizens. He said Article 5 of the Constitution stated that every citizen should remain loyal to the state. “However Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri have been inciting anarchy for two months,” he said.
The bench observed that it was necessary to ascertain the legal interpretation of the word “state” before going into the merits or demerits of the petition. The court directed the AGP to attend the next hearing and assist the court on the points raised by the petitioner.
Barrister Ali Zafar appeared on behalf of Qadri and sought time to file a reply on the application seeking contempt proceedings against Khan and Qadri for ignoring a previous order on their protest demonstrations.
A junior associate of Khan’s counsel also sought adjournment.
The bench allowed the requests and directed the counsel to submit their replies at the next hearing.
The court directed Home Secretary Azam Suleman, who was present in the court, to file his affidavit on the unavailability of the judicial inquiry report [on an alleged assassination attempt on Tahirul Qadri in 1990] in the government’s records.
The secretary admitted that the report of the inquiry held by Justice Akhtar Hussain investigating an alleged attempt on Dr Qadri’s life was not available in the government’s record.
The bench observed that the officials responsible would be taken to task in light of the secretary’s affidavit.
Petitioner Amjad Ali had said that Dr Qadri had been trying to incite anarchy through his speeches at public gatherings. He said the PAT leader had caused unrest and created a law and order situation.
The petitioner said that PAT workers had also resorted to violence and had beaten up police men in Islamabad. He said though the right to freedom of expression and association should be exercised, it should be subject to certain restraints.
He asked the court to ban the PAT on grounds of its “unconstitutional activities”. He said a judicial commission headed by Justice Akhtar Hussain of the LHC had declared a “murder attack” on Dr Qadri as a fake.
The bench will resume hearing on the plea on November 6.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2014.
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