LAHORE, Jan 27: The Lahore High Court issued on Monday notice to the state on Maulana Azam Tariq’s petition, seeking the lifting of ban on banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).

The petitioner submitted that the ban had been imposed through a short order in which the party had been declared as a terrorist organization by the military regime without any legal justification and this order had no legal recognition.

It was submitted that the decision to ban the party had become ineffective after the partial restoration of the constitution. The ban had been imposed when the constitution was held in abeyance and it had not remained alive once the remedy under the constitution had become available to him.

Only the Supreme Court had the authority to ban the activities of a political party, like the SSP, with reasons to be recorded, advocate Dr Farooq Hasan submitted.

He said the party along with seven others had been declared outlawed on the orders of a single man — President General Pervez Musharraf — who by no means had the jurisdiction to take such action.

It was argued that the party had been banned on foreign pressure. The appeal against the ban was also dismissed without giving any sufficient grounds. At present, there was no evidence available to suggest that the party had indulged in any activity prejudicial to the sovereignty of the country and had every right of being exempted from the ban for being a true political party.

The counsel referred to Article 17 of the Constitution, saying this article had guaranteed a fundamental right to every citizen to form a political association and pursuing his association with a party.

Justice Tassadaq Jilani was requested to grant relief to the petitioner by taking the appeal seriously since all the appeals made in the past had been dismissed without any legal justification.