LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to LDA Director-General Ahad Cheema, Orange Line Metro Train project patron-in-chief Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan and three other government officials on a contempt petition that highlighted violation of a stay order regarding construction work of the project within 200-feet radius of heritage sites in the city.

At the outset of the hearing, a division bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh expressed dismay over the alleged violation of the stay and observed that the court knew well how to get its orders implemented.

Kamil Khan Mumtaz and other members of the civil society filed the contempt petition.

Representing the petitioners, Advocate Azhar Siddique said mocking judicial orders was an old habit of the Punjab government.

He said the destruction of national heritage in the name of development was a big question mark on the priorities of the government.

He asked the bench to take action against the respondents under contempt of court law for defying the stay.

The bench directed the respondents to submit their explanations by Feb 24.

Environment Protection Agency DG Dr Javed Iqbal, Archeology Department Director General Chaudhry Muhammad Ijaz and LDA Chief Engineer Israr Saeed were also asked to explain their positions in the case.

The bench had on Jan 28 stayed construction work of the Orange Line Metro Train within 200-feet radius of 11 heritage sites.

Koh-i-Noor case: The Lahore High Court on Thursday asked law officers of federal and Punjab governments as well as a petitioner to cite a law that allowed it to order British Queen Elizabeth-II for the return of Koh-i-Noor diamond to Pakistan.

Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan also directed Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey, the petitioner, to come up on the next hearing with arguments on the maintainability of his petition.

Barrister Jaffrey contended that the British had snatched Koh-i-Noor from Duleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and took it to United Kingdom.

He said the diamond became part of the crown of the incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowning in 1953.

He pleaded that the Queen Elizabeth had no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond as it was a cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact.

He asked the court to direct the government, being a member of the common wealth countries, to bring the diamond back to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2016

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