Commission suggests ban on parading animals for election campaigns

Gullu Butt challenges imprisonment in LHC.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Wildlife Commission last week suggested a ban on the exhibition of wild animals by political parties during their election campaigns.

The commission recommended amending laws related to keeping wild animals, including tigers.

The commission, headed by Brig (r) Mukhtar Ahmad, had conducted a survey on wild animals being kept by citizens and political parties.

The commission had found tigers at Javed Mazhar Butt’s farmhouse; a lion at Zain’s farmhouse; two golden tigers, a white tiger and two pumas at Royal farmhouse and two lions and as many pumas at a Bahria Town farmhouse.

In Gujranwala, the commission had found two lions each and tigers at City farmhouse and three golden tigers and a lion at Amjad Iqbal Cheema’s farmhouse.

It had also found two lions and white tigers, a Bengal tiger, two tigers, two pumas, two jaguars and a panther and a cheetah at a Bahria Town farmhouse in Rawalpindi. Two African lions were found at Fazal Farmhouse in Multan.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had constituted the commission to investigate issues regarding import and keeping of wild animals. He has asked for a code of conduct for political parties and candidates that exhibited wild animals during election campaigns.

Faryal Ali Gohar had filed the petition against parading of wild animals during election campaigns.

Gullu Butt

A petition was filed in the LHC last week by Shahid Nazeer alias Gullu Butt challenging the imprisonment he had been awarded for his involvement in the June 17 Model Town violence.

Butt said he had been unlawfully convicted as all other accused, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and former law minister Rana Sanaullah, were left alone.

He said a trial court had ignored several facts in convicting him. He requested the court to set aside his sentence.

Electricity bills

On November 5, the LHC dismissed hundreds of petitions challenging recovery of equalisation surcharge in electricity bills.

The court observed that the government was legally empowered to collect the surcharge. However, it said the amount should be recovered in 12 installments.

The petitioner’s counsel had accused the government of unlawfully recovering the surcharge. He had argued that one province could not be forced to share line losses of other provinces.

Foreign tours

On November 6, the LHC asked the federal government to identify a law, if any, that barred public representatives including the prime minister from funding their foreign tours from beyond a certain amount of public money.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah heard a petition challenging the expenditures incurred on foreign tours of the prime minister.

Earlier, the court had directed the government to submit details of the expenses on the prime minister’s recent visit to New York along with his family and servants.

A law officer said the details could not be presented in the court because the petitioner had not sought any relief in this regard.

The court will resume the hearing by November 12.

Medicine prices

A petition was moved in the LHC seeking directions for the federal government to introduce a mechanism to control prices of medicines.

Nabeel Rafaqat had filed the petition through Advocate Sheraz Zaka submitting that multinational companies increased medicine prices at will. He said the government had not provided a mechanism to fix the prices.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2014.