LAHORE: A Lahore High Court full bench on Monday disposed of a petition pending for 10 years against the 2014 ‘Azadi March’ organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

The petition filed by late senior lawyer AK Dogar on behalf of Lawyers Foundation for Justice came for hearing before the bench headed by Justice Farooq Haider.

Justice Tariq Nadeem and Justice Ali Zia Bajwa were the other two members of the full bench.

Advocate Abdullah Dogar, a son of the late lawyer, appeared before the bench and stated that his father passed away in 2020.

The lawyer told the bench that he would not oppose it if the petition is disposed of.

At this, the bench disposed of the petition for being infructuous.

The petition filed in 2014 argued that despite court orders, PTI founding chairman Imran Khan and PAT chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri initiated the march from Lahore against the then PML-N government and staged a sit-in in Islamabad.

The petitions accused both the leaders of contempt of court for holding a prolonged protest and asked the court to initiate contempt proceedings against them.

It is worth noting that an Aug 13, 2014 judgement passed by a LHC full bench had restrained both parties PTI and PAT from committing any unconstitutional act during the protest.

A set of petitions involving similar issues is also fixed for hearing before another full bench headed by Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Oct 10.

RECUSAL: A member of a Lahore High Court three-judge bench on Monday recused himself from petitions regarding ban on speeches by MQM London leader Altaf Hussain.

The petitions filed in 2015 came for hearing before a full bench comprising Justice Farooq Haider, Justice Tariq Nadeem and Justice Ali Zia Bajwa.

However, Justice Bajwa recused himself from the case due to personal reasons.

As a result, the bench referred the matter to the chief justice with a request to fix the petitions before any other appropriate bench.

Advocate Sardar Aftab Ahmad Virk and others had filed a petition seeking a ban on the speeches of Altaf Hussain. On these petitions, the LHC had imposed a ban, instructing the Pemra to ensure compliance of the order.

On other hand, citizen Muhammad Idrees filed a petition challenging the ban on the speeches of the MQM-London leader.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024