LAHORE, Nov 26: The Lahore High Court reserved its order on Monday on a writ petition seeking early appointment of senior-most high court judges to the Supreme Court in accordance with the 1996 Judges Case verdict.
Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari, who heard the petition, wondered whether he could issue writs involving superior courts and their judges.
Petitioner-lawyer M.D. Tahir, however, cited a number of Pakistani and foreign judgments and said he was duty-bound to agitate the matter under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act and rules framed under it.
It would be injustice to the Supreme Court and the judges concerned if the vacancies were not filled at the earliest as required by the 1996 judgment, he said.
Justice Bhandari reserved his order after hearing the lawyer at length.
HABEAS CORPUS PLEAS: Two habeas corpus petitions agitating the alleged confinement of scientists Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Dr Abdul Majid and five others could not be taken up by the Lahore High Court on Monday.
The first petition was moved by Advocate M.D. Tahir but when the court allowed the alleged detainees’ heirs to approach it, Mr Mahmood’s mother, 85-year-old Fazilat Bibi, filed a petition on Monday through Advocate Ismail Qureshi and four other senior lawyers.
The second petition was also assigned to Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday. Son of Sheikh Mohammad Tufail, another alleged detainee, was also present.
Fazilat Bibi said in her petition that her son, a 60-year-old decorated scientist, remained in custody in the last week of October along with Dr Abdul Majid. Both were released after a few days but were again picked up on Nov 12 and have not been heard of since.
Citing press reports, she expressed the fear that they might be made over to foreign agencies for interrogation.
Justice Ramday, who took up the first petition early in the morning, said he could not study the second petition thoroughly and would hear both on Tuesday. When Mr Qureshi informed him that he would be busy in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the judge fixed Nov 28 as the new date of hearing.