LAHORE, April 19: The Lahore High Court (LHC) issued a notice on Tuesday for May 18 to the attorney general on a petition filed by former president Rafiq Tarar for directions to remove all references in public and official records showing Pervez Musharraf as president.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed heard the petition by Mr Tarar through his counsel, Abid Hasan Minto, wherein it was submitted that he took oath of the president’s office on Jan 1, 1998, and at that time, salary payable to the president was Rs23,000 and pension Rs10,000.

He said in October 1999, the elected government was toppled but he continued to hold the office of the president. He submitted that in May 2001, a summary was moved by the cabinet division to the then chief executive, Pervez Musharraf, proposing that salary and pension of the president be higher than all other state functionaries, including the chief justice.

The petitioner submitted that in pursuance of the summary two bills were submitted to the petitioner with an advice from the chief executive. However, the petitioner declined to sign the bills on certain apprehensions, he said.

He said after his expulsion, another summary was moved through which the president was entitled to receive a Rs57,000 monthly salary and 85 per cent of salary as pension and the summary was approved.

He submitted the principle of keeping salary and pension of the president higher than other state functionaries could not be carried out as salaries of the chief justice and other judges had increased many times.

He submitted that the anomaly was against constitutional intents as the pension he drew was Rs48,450 whereas the pension of the chief justice during 1991-94 was Rs476,325.

Referring to the Supreme Court decision on the Sindh High Court Bar Association, he contended that the petitioner legally continued as president till Sept 8, 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari assumed office.

He said promulgation of emergency on Oct 14, 1999, had been declared to have no legal effect as per the 18th Amendment Bill which amended Article 270AA. So the order 2, 3 of 2001, for his expulsion, also had no legal effects.

He prayed to the court to declare that the petitioner never resigned from the office and continued as president till the oath of Asif Zardari as president.

He also requested the court that Musharraf be declared not entitled to receive any privileges as he was not an elected president.

The petitioner also prayed to the court to pass directions to remove all references made to Musharraf in public and official records showing him as president.

He prayed to the court to declare that the petitioner was entitled to receive salary from Dec 1, 2001, to Sept 8, 2009, at the rate of 132.5 per cent of salary payable to the chief justice and arrears of the same period should be given to welfare organisations.

He said the court declare that the petitioner was entitled to receive pension from Sept 9, 2008, at the rate of 85 per cent of the salary. — APP