LAHORE – A Lahore High Court (LHC) four-member full bench on Monday dismissed a petition against speakers of the Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies for passing resolutions in favour of President Asif Ali Zardari for holding dual offices. The bench consisting of Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan ruled that according to the constitution, resolutions of legislative assemblies could not be challenged in any court of law.
The bench observed that assembly resolutions could not affect proceedings of courts, as they were not binding on it. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Farhad Ali Shah, during hearing of the dual office case against President Zardari. The petitioner submitted that Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuro and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chagharmati passed resolutions in Zardari’s favour for holding dual offices. He said that both speakers had tried to influence the court, which is already hearing petitions in this regard.
Farhad said that their act is tantamount to contempt of court and requested contempt proceedings against the speakers. Separately, the LHC adjourned hearing of the petition challenging Zardari’s dual offices until today (Tuesday). Petitioner’s counsel AK Dogar argued that it was duty of the court to provide justice according to law otherwise anarchy would grip society. He cited example of the US Supreme Court, which had declined justice to a Negro in Abraham Lincoln’s presidency in 1861.
Dogar said that the court’s mistake led to a civil war in the US in which 1.5 million people died. The bench is hearing petitions filed by the Pakistan Lawyers Forum (PLF), Engineer Ghulam Jilani and Asif Mehmood Khan seeking President Zardari’s disqualification for indulging in political activities in his capacity as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman.
The petitioner alleged that being head of state, Zardari should not indulge in politics by holding co-chairmanship of the PPP. He said that on various occasions, the president has openly acted as the PPP co-chairman forgetting his constitutional responsibilities as head of state. The petitioner said that the president was notorious for corruption and labeled as “Mr 10 percent” in the international and national print and electronic media.
He submitted that according to articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, Zardari was not qualified to be head of state, as he is not honest. The petitioner requested the court to disqualify Zardari from holding both offices.
