Court Diaries: LHCBA slams plan to establish military courts

LHC stayed execution of a man convicted for killing an army official.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) last week passed a resolution condemning the government’s plan to set up military courts. However, the legal fraternity did not convey any effective message to the government in this regard.

Although the LHCBA announced that it would arrange an All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention, it appears that it is trying to wash its hands of the issue.

The Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) also did not show any reservations.

However, former SCBA presidents Hamid Khan and Asma Jahangir expressed concerns over the plan. Khan, who is vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, went beyond his party line and rejected the proposal as an unconstitutional move.

Execution stayed

A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench stayed last week the execution of a prisoner convicted for killing an army official.

The bench stayed Muhammad Faiz’s execution until January 5. It summoned the Faisalabad jail superintendent who had obtained Faiz’s death warrants.

The bench also asked an anti-terrorism court to explain why the warrants were issued while the appeal was pending before the Supreme Court.

The anti-terrorism court had awarded death penalty to Faiz in 2006 for killing Naek Tariq Mahmood in Nankana.

Anarkali fire

An LHC bench issued notices to the Lahore Development Authority and the Lahore DCO on a petition requesting action against those responsible for a fire at an Urdu Bazaar plaza, resulting in the death of 13 people.

Judicial Activism Panel chairman Azhar Siddique had filed the petition blaming the government for the deaths. He said the government had failed to implement the relevant building bylaws.

He said the government should explain why it had failed to put out the fire early.

Election tribunal

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court last week dismissed petitions by three Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentarians challenging decisions of an election tribunal.

The bench, headed by Justice Saqib Nisar, said the tribunal’s interim orders could not be challenged.

The petitioners had submitted that Election Tribunal consisting of Kazim Ali Malik had been issuing orders without listening to them. They said they had no confidence in the tribunal and his decisions should be declared illegal. They demanded that petitions challenging their election should be transferred to another tribunal.

MNA Malik Riaz, MPA Mohsin Latif and MPA Saiful Mulook had challenged the tribunal’s decision wherein it had ordered recounting and inspection of votes polled, on petitions by PTI candidates.

Riaz had challenged the LHC’s decision dismissing his petition he had filed in October 2014 against recounting of votes.

Riaz, elected MNA from NA 118, said that the election tribunal could not interfere in the matters of the Election Commission. In the 2013 elections, Malik had won the seat receiving 103,346 votes. The runner-up, Hamid Zaman from the PTI, had received 43,616 votes. On August 17, 2014, the tribunal had ordered inspection of 117 more bags of votes polled in the PP-147. PML-N’s Mohsin Latif had won in that constituency.

Earlier, six polling bags were examined in PP-147 on the election tribunal’s directive, revealing a difference of 1,000 votes.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.