Lahore High Court issues fresh notice to President Asif Ali Zardari’s principle secretary

Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued fresh notice to principle secretary of President Asif Ali Zardari, adjourning the hearing of the contempt petition filed against him.

Amid controversy over dual offices of the president, the court  issued a notice to President Zardari to explain by September 14 why he had not followed its direction to relinquish the political post of co-chairman of the ruling PPP or the other.

A four-member bench headed by the High Court Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial resumed the hearing of the petition filed against President Zardari for holding doing political activities in the president house.

Justice Bandial during the course of hearing remarked, “We ask the President to tell the court as to why he did not follow the High Court s direction of leaving political office of his party”.

“The President should inform the court if he thinks that the petition against his holding of two offices is not maintainable”, he added.

Wasim Sajjad represented the federation in the court, asking the court to extend the hearing date because the federation was still deliberating if the case merits a hearing or not.

In his view, the government respected the judiciary but the question that needed addressing was that whether or not contempt of court had been committed.

Upon this, the chief justice of the high court said that the president should present a lawyer in the court if he had any objections over the matter.

Justice Bandial also summoned Attorney General Irfan Qadir, who is currently present in the Quetta Registry of the Supreme Court, for the next hearing.

The federation should also be made a party in the case, he added. The court adjourned the hearing to Sept 14.

Earlier, Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique had filed the petition against the president for continuing to hold a political office and indulge in political activities in violation of an order of an LHC full bench.

Advocate Siddique had contended that the LHC in its May 12, 2011 judgment on dual-office held by the president had ruled that he should not use the highest office for political purposes.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 5 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.