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| July 22, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-us-Sani 14, 1426 |
LHC takes up plea against diplomat today
LAHORE, July 21: Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa of the Lahore High Court is due to take up on Friday a writ petition, which seeks the court instructions to the foreign office to withdraw diplomatic immunity from the first secretary of the British High Commission in London. The writ petition, moved by Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Dhillon from Kasur, seeks the withdrawal of diplomatic immunity from Col Asif Saleem to enable the London police to proceed against him in a criminal reference moved by his brother, Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar Dhillon, to London’s Bulgaria police station. Anwar alleged that the secretary had broken his jaw with a punch when he questioned him about the reason for not issuing him a Pakistani passport.
The petition, moved through Advocate Syed Nisar Safdar, also wants the high court to direct the foreign office to withdraw Col Asif Saleem from his diplomatic assignment. The foreign affairs secretary and federal secretaries of the defence and interior ministries are among the respondents in the case.
The petitioner submitted that Anwar Dhillon, a lawyer by profession who had actively been participating in rallies against the Musharraf government as the secretary of a socialist group, was told by the first secretary that he could not be issued a passport because he had been abusing the president and the government in rallies. Later, he applied for a British passport ‘reluctantly’ and had to obtain a British visa to visit his own country.
According to the petitioner, Anwar applied for the passport more than three years ago and also deposited 58 pounds as the fee. The Pakistan High Commission, later, kept on delaying the issuance of the passport and ultimately the first secretary declined the request in October last year.
The petition also appended certain annexures and one of them, based on a letter from Sergeant John Higgs of Kensington police station, who is said to be the investigation officer in the criminal case against the Pakistani diplomat, said he was trying through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to get the immunity waived so that judicial proceedings against Col Asif could be initiated.
He also produced the copy of a London doctor that the punch Anwar received had damaged his jaw.
The petitioner submitted that possessing a passport was the constitutional right of every Pakistani citizen whether living within the country or abroad. He submitted that the refusal to issue the passport was violative of several provisions of the Constitution concerning fundamental rights. —Mahmood Zaman
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