LAHORE: A Lahore High Court full bench sought on Monday the assistance of the attorney general of Pakistan about maintainability of a petition seeking a treason case against Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri for their alleged attempts to create anarchy in the country.

As the bench resumed hearing of petitions relating to sit-ins (dharnas), Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked advocate AK Dogar, petitioner’s counsel, to argue on the court’s jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution to order registration of a treason case against any citizen.

The counsel said the Constitution empowered the court to protect rights of citizens. He said Article 5 of the Constitution required that every citizen remain loyal to the state. But, he said, Mr Khan and Mr Qadri had been inciting people for anarchy for the last two months. The bench observed that interpretation of word “state” was also necessary before going into merits of the petition. The bench directed the attorney general to come up on next hearing with legal assistance on the points raised by the petitioner.

Barrister Ali Zafar appeared on behalf of Mr Qadri and sought time to file a reply on the petition seeking contempt proceedings against Mr Khan and Mr Qadri for ignoring a previous order about their marches and holding dharnas.

A junior associate of Khan’s counsel also sought adjournment from the bench. The bench allowed the requests and directed both counsels to submit the replies by next date.

Meanwhile, the bench directed Punjab Home Secretary Azam Suleman, present in the court, to file his affidavit about unavailability of a judicial inquiry report in the government’s record.

The secretary in his verbal statement admitted that report of the inquiry held by Justice Akhtar Hussain in 1990 into life attempt on Dr Qadri was not available in the record.

The bench observed that responsible officials would be taken to task in the light of the secretary’s affidavit.

A member of the public, Amjad Ali filed this petition, saying Dr Qadri had been trying to create anarchy in country by delivering provoking speeches at public gatherings. He said the Pakistan Awami Tehreek leader caused an unrest and also risked the law and order situation in the country. He said a judicial commission headed by the Justice Akhtar Hussain of the LHC had declared the murder attack on Dr Qadri a drama. The bench would resume hearing on Nov 6.

PM’s disqualification: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday requested the chief justice to constitute a five-member larger bench to hear a 23-year-old petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of money laundering.

The bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh was hearing an application to fix hearing of the main petition pending since 1991.

Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree, the petitioner, stated four years had passed since last hearing on his petition by a five-judge bench. The bench was later dissolved after one of its members refused to hear the case due to personal reasons.

The lawyer pleaded that his petition could be heard by a five-member bench only as it was heard earlier.

The division bench admitted the plea and referred the case to chief justice with a request to form a five-judge bench.

Barrister Jafree in his petition pleaded that Nawaz Sharif caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by sending money abroad through illegal means. He said the PM did not meet the criteria for being a member of the parliament as prescribed in Articles 62 & 63 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2014