June 02, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

LAHORE, June 1: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday sought reply from the Interior Ministry on June 6 on a constitutional petition by former minister Jahangir Badr, seeking permission to travel to London for medical treatment.

Mr Badr also sought permission to visit India to attend the wedding ceremony of actor Raj Babbar’s daughter.

Justice Syed Zahid Hussain directed the deputy attorney general of Pakistan to appear before him on June 6 after seeking instructions from the authorities.

The petitioner through lawyer Munir Ahmad Khan said his name was placed on the exit control list (ECL) in 1999 despite no case was registered or pending against him in any court.

He called the act of the Interior Ministry discriminatory, adding that in the past the names of several ministers and politicians had been removed from the ECL but his name remained there.

He said he was a political leader and former minister and the apprehensions were false that he could escape from the country. He prayed that directions be issued to remove his name from the ECL.

Sentence commuted: The Lahore High Court on Friday converted the death sentence of an elderly man into life imprisonment, who was convicted on charges of killing his stepson.

Announcing the decision, the court observed that it was not appropriate to award capital punishment to an aged person.

The court further observed that the counsel of complainant had proved his case as all the evidence and witnesses supported his version.

According to facts, appellant Mohammad Hayat a few days before the incident, had a quarrel with his wife Kaniz Bibi at home due to which the deceased Javed Iqbal, who was the stepson of the appellant, got angry and snubbed him.

Appellant was an old man who, at the time of the incident, was 65 years of age and now he was 71, thus sentence of death awarded to him by the trial court was not maintained and alternatively he was sentenced to life imprisonment which shall meet the ends of justice, the court concluded.