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KARACHI, Nov 7: A former advocate-general on Wednesday filed a constitutional petition challenging the imposition of emergency rule in the country.
Former advocate-general Anwar Mansoor Khan filed a constitutional petition to challenge the imposition of emergency and the measures taken in pursuance of it, including the suspension of fundamental rights.
Filed on behalf of advocates Naimur Rahman and Mushtaq A. Memon, the petition has not been fixed for hearing because of office objections. The petitioners and their counsel also want to amend it in view of the eight-member Supreme Court order nullifying the earlier seven-member SC bench order that set aside the proclamation of emergency on Nov 3.
The petitioners submitted that the emergency was unconstitutional since it was imposed by the chief of the army staff and not by the president, as contemplated by the Constitution. They maintained that it was also repugnant to the basic features and grundnorm of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Boycott of PCO judges
Meanwhile, a general body meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SCHBA) resolved to wait for the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) decision before ending the boycott of judges who took oath under the PCO.
The meeting also decided to appoint a committee comprised of three former presidents of the SHCBA to run the affairs of the association in the absence of incumbent president Abrar Hasan, secretary Muninur Rehman and other office-bearers who have been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.
Addressing the meeting, former SHCBA presidents Akhtar Hussain, M. Ilyas Khan and Abdul Hafeez Lakho said that lawyers would continue their agitation against the imposition of an emergency rule, the promulgation of the PCO and the removal of superior court judges. All three are members of the SHCBA interim committee, which also includes advocate Syed Sami Ahmed.
The Karachi Bar Association demanded on Wednesday that judges who refused to take oath under the PCO be henceforth restored to their positions, adds PPI.
