LAHORE: Petitions related to political activity remained the centre of attention at the Lahore High Court last week.
Several petitions, including a contempt petition, were filed against the Punjab police inspector general and capital city police officer.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Zubair Niazi filed a petition accusing police of illegally detaining 135 PTI workers despite court orders. The IGP submitted that no PTI worker had been arrested nor had protests been banned in the city. He said 13 PTI workers had been briefly detained at the Gulberg police station.
PAT workers
The government assured Lahore High Court it would release all detained supporters of Pakistan Awami Tehreek.
Additional Home Secretary Wajahat Hamdani gave the court, hearing five petitions on the matter, an undertaking to release all political prisoners.
Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan declared the detention of PAT workers illegal and was going to order their immediate but the additional home secretary requested the court not to pass the order. He gave an undertaking that the government would release all detained workers unconditionally.
He claimed that PAT workers had been arrested for anti-state activities. Justice Khan observed that if that were the case, the government should have detained the party leader, and not just the workers.
Harassment
On September 19, Justice Syed Kazim Raza Shamsi directed police officials not to harass the petitioner and employees of a factory owned by a Pakistan Awami Tehreek convenor in Quaidabad.
Petitioner Syed Athar Hussain Shah had submitted that the Quaidabad police were harassing him and other workers at a factory, hotel and a madrassah owned by Pir Shamsul Arifeen, a PAT convenor. He said Arifeen had been nominated in an FIR for setting a police station ablaze in reaction to the Model Town violence.
He said police officials had been raiding the hotel, factory and madrassah and harassing the employees there even though they had not been nominated in the FIR and were not connected to any political party.
Politicians’ assets
The LHC sought a reply from the attorney general, the advocate general and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a petition seeking an order to politicians and lawyers among others to bring back their assets held abroad.
Justice Aminuddin Khan directed three of the respondents to submit copies of their replies to the petitioner.
The court decided to proceed ex-parte (one-sided) against the respondents for not submitting replies.
A newspaper proclamation was also published on the court’s order.
The politicians who neither appeared in court nor sent a lawyer on their behalf include Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his wife Kulsoom Nawaz; Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz; former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Barrister Aitezaz Ahsan, his wife Bushra Aitezaz and Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman have so far filed replies.
JIT report challenged
On September 16, a division bench of Lahore High Court issued notices to the home secretary and other respondents on a petition by Amir Saleem, a former Sabzazar police station house officer, challenging an investigation of the Model Town police operation by a joint investigation team of police and intelligence agencies.
Punjab Police Inspector General Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera and head of the JIT, Special Branch Additional IG Dr Arif Mushtaq, were party to the petition.
Advocate Waqas Hassan Mir argued that the JIT had not held the petitioner liable under provisions of Anti Terrorism Act inserted in the FIR.
He said the report of a judicial inquiry held by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi was also yet to be released.
LPG price hike
On September 18, the LHC sought a reply from the Ministry of Petroleum and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority about an “unjustified hike in prices of liquefied petroleum gas without the approval of the lawful authority”.
Petitioner Advocate Noshab A Khan said LPG marketing companies had raised price of the gas without a notification from the Ogra, the competent authority. The lawyer said the price of LPG should be lowered considering a $25 per tonne decline in the international market.
He said Ogra had not announced a new price for LPG, therefore, the recent hike was illegal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 22nd, 2014.
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