February 15, 2008	Friday	Safar 07, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 14: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to allow all voters of NA-242 constituency having their names on the electoral rolls to cast their ballots on production of old national identity cards.

A petition was moved by Awami Himayat Tehrik candidate Maulvi Iqbal Haider and six other voters stating that the constituency had a large number of residents of Bengali or Burmese descent who had neither been issued computerised national identity cards nor enrolled as voters.

Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui submitted that under an amendment to the Citizenship Act made in 1983, the Pakistani citizenship of all East Pakistani residents except federal government civil and military employees was terminated with effect from Dec 16, 1971. All such people claiming Pakistani nationality have to apply afresh. Any person not registered as a citizen is not eligible to vote. In any case, the matter has been agitated too late for the voters list to be altered.

The bench consisting Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan asked EC election officials to accept old identity cards for the purpose of identification. However, the order would not operate to confer any other right or benefit on the petitioners and other residents of the constituency, it remarked.

SHCBA’s call

The judiciary cannot become independent without the reinstatement of all the deposed judges and chief justices, the Sindh High Court Bar Association said on Thursday.

A general body meeting held to mark the ‘protest day’ said in a resolution that the judiciary’s independence was guaranteed not by the splendour of its buildings or the lofty declarations contained in statutes but by the courage and integrity of its members. All those who desire the rule of law should strive for the restoration of the pre-Nov 3, 2007 judiciary.

The resolution said the Pakistan Bar Council should initiate a reference against the incumbent chief justice for obtaining a bank loan as reported by the press.

Meanwhile, Sindh Bar Council members Salahuddin Gandapur and Hanif Ahmed Bhatti observed a token hunger strike on Thursday.

Some lawyers earlier in the morning shouted slogans outside courtrooms to enforce the legal fraternity’s call for strike. However, the proceedings continued uninterrupted during the court timings.