April 11, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 10: A petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to hold the office for violating his oath was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, non-functional Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar had been made respondents in the petition.

The petitioner, Syed Iqbal Haider, stated that the prime minister had taken oath under Article 91(4) of the Constitution that he would not allow any personal interest to influence any official conduct.

He said the prime minister had admitted to have met certain demands of the now non-functional Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry before recommending to the president a reference against him under Article 209 of the Constitution.

The petition said that the prime minister and his subordinates could have refused to meet the demands alleged to have been made by Justice Chaudhry and advised the president to send a reference before meeting the demands.

The petitioner said the prime minister also gave an ill advice to the president on restraining the chief justice from performing his functions.

He said that the suspension of the chief justice had led to an unprecedented uproar and massive protests in the country.