LAHORE: Petitions surrounding eligibility of Kusloom Nawaz, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for the NA-120 by-election, remained top issue at the Lahore High Court last week as two LHC judges recused themselves from hearing pleas challenging her candidature.
Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan, head of the first full bench formed to hear the petitions, had recused himself from hearing pleas citing personal reasons.
Similarly, Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, member of the second full bench formed by the LHC chief justice on Kulsoom’s eligibility, had also recused himself from hearing the petitions.
Now a third bench comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Ibadur Rehamn Lodhi and Justice Shahid Jamil will take up today (Monday) petitions filed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Faisal Mir and Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) against acceptance of Kusloom’s nomination papers.
Also the LHC dismissed a petition during the last week against alleged use of government machinery by the ruling party in favour of its candidate’s campaign for the by-poll.
Another important case for the week was a contempt notice issued to Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) Multan President Sher Zaman Qurehsi. Qureshi, however, had moved the Supreme Court against issuance of his arrest warrants as he was not appearing before the LHC full bench after which his arrest warrants were issued.
Another important case regarding the detention of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed is expected to be decided this week after Hafiz Saeed and his aides Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid, Qazi Kashif Hussain and Abdullah Ubaid had challenged their fresh detention orders.
During the last week, the LHC also ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in the PhD entrance test for admission to the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) of the Punjab University. The LHC had ordered the probe after a candidate, Khurram Shahzad, approached the court to secure admission to the ICS. He had claimed that he was denied admission over political reasons.
Separately, the LHC may announce its reserved verdict on a contempt petition against former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in connection with his request to the government to lift a travel ban on him.
An eye-opener case during the week was of Nasir Ahmad Awan of Gujrat who offered for sale his five sons after it became impossible for him to earn a square meal for his family as he had been failed to get his land vacated from land grabbers for the last 17 years.
Meanwhile, the LHCBA and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will observe “black day” today to lodge their protest against genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
