LAHORE, June 7: The Lahore High Court has adjourned till June 14 the hearing of an objection petition of the Pakistan Lawyers Forum which challenged the deportation of PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif as "abduction" and in contravention of several provisions of the Constitution.

The petition, filed on May 31 through Advocate A.K.Dogar, sought a court injunction against the federal government that the act of sending Shahbaz Sharif back on May 11 was unconstitutional, unlawful and was interference with the liberty of a citizen of Pakistan. The registrar office returned the petition the next day with the objection that the PLF had no locus standi to the issue relating to Shahbaz Sharif.

The PLF refiled the petition with the remarks that the Lahore High Court and not its office had powers to raise the objection which amounted to passing a judicial order. The petitioner wrote to the office that the plea be fixed before a court to adjudicate if the PLF had a locus standi in the matter.

The issue was referred to Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry, who appointed a bench, comprising Justice Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, to hear the PLF plea as an objection petition. The bench did not function because the judge was on leave.

The court will now take up the case next Monday. The petitioner, in addition to raising constitutional issues, cited a Supreme Court decision of May 8 that Shahbaz Sharif had a constitutional right to return and live in Pakistan and that the government had not produced any agreement under which the former chief minister of the Punjab was forced to live in exile.

The petitioner submitted that the government had incurred an act contemptuous of the apex court's decision. It submitted that Shahbaz Sharif was physically overpowered and thrown into another plane and the act amounted to abduction in terms of 362 and 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Another point raised in the petition was that by deporting Shahbaz Sharif, the government had deprived him of facing trial in a criminal case which denied him the right of access to justice.

Ex-MPA's plea: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Monday adjourned till June 10 the hearing of an application by former PML-N MPA Shaikh Amjad Aziz seeking review of its decision of disqualifying him from holding the public office.

The application, under Section 12/2 of the CrPC, submitted that Humayun Akhtar Khan had concealed several facts in substantiating that the MPA did not possess a BA degree.

Shaikh Amjad alleged that Humayun Akhtar used his political influence in preventing the Punjab University from issuing him (the applicant) the degree. He submitted that the university had issued him a certified copy of the degree after the tribunal's decision.

He submitted that the tribunal also declared the petitioner an elected MPA which contravened the election laws. He submitted that the Supreme Court decision on his appeal that the seat to the Punjab Assembly from PP-156 had fallen vacant and that Haroon Akhtar could not be declared elected, substantiated his stand in the election tribunal that a by-election to the seat should be held.