LAHORE, Jan 21: Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir has filed an application in the Lahore High Court seeking permission to advance his arguments on a contempt petition against President Asif Ali Zardari pending adjudication before a full bench.

The AGP stated that before any further proceedings in the matter, it was necessary for the full bench to hear his arguments on maintainability of the petition. He said under Article 100 of the Constitution the courts were bound to hear the attorney general.

A full bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, will resume on Tuesday (today) hearing of the contempt petition against President Zardari. On previous hearing, the bench had directed Advocate Wasim Sajjad, the federation’s counsel, to come up with arguments on constitutional immunity enjoyed by the president under Article 248 of the Constitution.

Munir Ahmad had filed the contempt petition questioning holding of political office and political activities of the President Zardari in violation of a LHC full bench order issued on May 12, 2011. Advocates A.K Dogar and Azhar Siddique are the petitioner’s counsel.

The petitioner said the president had not disassociated himself from political office as expected by the LHC full bench in its decision against president’s dual office.

He stated that the use of presidency for political activities by Asif Ali Zardari was not only illegal but also violation of court’s orders.

He prayed that the president should be issued a show-cause notice and punished for the contempt of court under Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 read with Article 204 of the Constitution.

ADJOURNED: The LHC on Monday adjourned hearing of a set of petitions against owner of a visa ‘consultancy’ firm as Federal Investigation Agency officials sought more time to file progress report about arrest of Asim Malik, the owner.

A FIA official told the court that the Interpol was yet to respond to a request of the agency about the arrest of Mr Malik. He said red warrants will be issued against Malik after the Interpol’s approval.

At this Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi adjourned hearing till Feb 4 and directed the FIA officials to submit a complete report about the progress.

The petitioners had pleaded that they had given money to company’s chief executive officer for going abroad but they were defrauded. They said Malik neither sent them abroad nor returned their money.

The FIA registered a number of cases against Malik on charges of defrauding public at large in the name of sending them abroad.

The court had ordered the FIA to confiscate assets of Asim Malik and his dependants and also put his name on ECL. However, the accused easily managed his escape abroad. FIA had told the court that Interpol had been approached for the arrest of Malik.

LESCO: An additional district and sessions judge on Monday directed Mozang station house officer to decide in accordance with law an application of a local journalist seeking registration of a case against Lesco officials.

The petitioner-journalist, Majid Husain, had filed a writ petition pleading that the police was reluctant to lodge a FIR against Lesco officials who allegedly tortured him.

He submitted that Superintendent Engineer Nasim and other Lesco officials detained and tortured him when he visited the company office for the correction of his electricity bill.

The petitioner said he approached the Mozang SHO for the registration of a criminal case of the incident but the police took no action on his application. He prayed to the court to direct the respondents to act upon his application in accordance with law and lodge a case against the accused.