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MULTAN, Dec 12: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday summoned leaders of 19 nationalist parties on a petition. Ghazi Ahmed Hassan Khokhar had filed a petition on Sept 14, 1998, in the Lahore High Court, Multan Bench.
In his petition, Ghazi Ahmed Hassan Khokhar had pleaded that Pakistan was an Islamic state and it came into being on the basis of the two-nation theory. According to the constitution, he said all the people living in Pakistan were Pakistanis and their nationality was Pakistani.
He said the respondents were propagating to divide the nation on race, language and colour basis through their propaganda that was against Section 10 of the Act of the Anti-national Activities VII 1974 and it was a conspiracy against the country. He requested the court to ban the parties and their activities.
On Feb 4, 2005, Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry had issued notices to all home secretaries for appearance of all the respondents.
In the meantime, the Lahore High Court chief justice transferred the case from Multan Bench to the principal seat in Lahore on Feb 8, 2005. He also constituted a division bench that on July 12, 2006, issued notices to the respondents to appear on Oct 26, 2006, but they could not make it because of Eid holidays.
The respondents included Altaf Husain of the MQM, Asfand Yar Wali of the BNP, Attaullah Khan Mengal of the BNP, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto of the Sindh National Front, Dr Abdul Hai Baloch of the BNM (Hai Group), Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtoon Khawah Milli Awami Party, Rasool Bakhsh Paleejo of the Sindh Awami Party, Hameed Asghar Shaheen of the Seraikistan Qaumi Movement, Aafaq Ahmed Khan of the MQM (Haqiqi), Dr Qadir Magsi of the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, Bashir Khan Qureshi of the Jey Sindh Mahaz, Yousaf Leghari of the Sindh Democratic Party, Haji Ahmed Nawaz Soomro of the Seraiki Qaumi Tehrik, Qamar Bhatti of the Sindh Qaum Parast Party, Maulana Abdul Aziz Bhaio of the Sindh Sagar Party, Muhammad Afzal Khan of the Pakhtoon Khawah Awami Party, and Yousaf Masti Khan of the Pakistan National Party.
Theatre Festival: Sixth interactive theatre festival started here on Monday at the Multan Arts Council.
City District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar inaugurated the festival that was organised by the Interactive Resource Centre (IRC) in collaboration with Trocaire, South Asia Partnership Pakistan and Church World Service.
Multan Theatre Group, Channan Theatre Group, Lahore and Indus Theatre Group, Khairpur staged three plays on women rights on the first day.
The second day was dedicated to peace, environment and education. Three plays were staged by Mandwa Group (Lahore), Murk Theatre Group and Multan Theatre Group.
