LAHORE, June 21: Justice Khwaja Sharif of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday summoned former minister Abida Husain on June 26 to explain her conduct for impeding the installation of a gas connection in the home of a person living in the same street where she resided in Jhang. Abida, a leader of the opposition Independent Group, has been accused of preventing gas supply to the home of Imtiaz Hasan who filed a writ petition against the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited pleading that the former minister had been using her influence in impeding the gas connection for three years.

The court ordered that Abida be imploded as a party to the dispute after Additional Advocate-General Hanif Khatana submitted that the SNGPL report said that the department was ready to install the gas connection and the only hindrance was Syeda Abida who had time and again warned the department against supplying gas to the petitioner.

According to the petitioner, he applied for a gas connection and was issued a demand notice on June 21, 2002. But the SNGPL was delaying the installation because Syeda Abida, who lived in the same street on Gojra Road in Jhang where he resided, was impeding the gas supply.