ISLAMABAD: A judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), hearing a petition against an army officer on Friday, observed that the court could not take up matters related to army personnel.

It may be mentioned that earlier, the judge, Justice Mohammad Anwar Kasi, was on a division bench which admitted a petition for early disposal of the case regarding extension given to Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

On Friday, Justice Kasi directed petitioner Yawar Saeed Khan to delete the name of the adjutant general of army from the list of respondents because the court, under sub-section 3 of article 199 of the Constitution, could not take cognisance of the matters related to the armed forces personnel.

The petitioner has requested the court to direct the adjutant general to hand over an army officer — Major Zubair Ali Khan — to Islamabad police because he had allegedly committed a fraud of Rs24 million with the petitioner in connivance with three other accused.

The petitioner has also nominated the IG and the SSP of Islamabad police as respondents.

According to Mr Yawar Khan, he had lodged an FIR against Major Zubair, who was captain at that time, Haji Said Fareen, Sadeed ur Rehman and Sheikh Tajammal under sections 406/109, 420, 468 and 471 of the PPC on Aug 9, 2007.

The case pertains to land measuring 337 kanals and 15 marlas along the main road of Fatehjang, belonging to Haji Said. The petitioner stated that Major Zubair, a family friend, persuaded him to buy the land and he paid Rs24 million.

At the time of sale, he had been told that it was a compact plot of land but later it emerged that it was scattered in different areas, the petitioner said and termed it a fraud.

The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, he said, had cancelled the bail Haji Said had obtained from a local court.

Similarly, the bail application of Major Zubair was dismissed by an additional sessions judge of Islamabad and the bail of Sadeed was also cancelled. However, he said, the police had not arrested the accused.

The petitioner said the respondent was still in the army posted at Gujranwala Cantonment and the army had taken no action against him. He requested the court to direct police to arrest the civilian accused.

The IHC bench adjourned the case till a date to be fixed by the registrar.