LAHORE – A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging condition of obtaining No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for citizens especially artists, students and journalists before traveling abroad. Advocate Noshab A Khan filed the petition saying the impugned decision taken by federal government was an infringement of civil liberty.
Petitioner said the democratic government’s decision to consider such a possibility was disappointing, leave aside expound it publicly. He said this was Zia’s regime’s flashback when artists were a hostage to NOCs. He said that this was an utter violation and encroachment upon the fundamental citizens’ right of freedom of movement as enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution. The petitioner maintained that the said decision was therefore illegal, without jurisdiction, misconstrued application of discretion Lahore and void ab-initio.
The petitioner pleaded and prayed to court to set aside the impugned orders.
-dismisses petition seeking confiscation of banned trio’s assets: The Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed a writ petition seeking life time ban and confiscation of assets of 3 Pakistani cricketers for their alleged involvement in corruption, which according to the petitioner, brought bad name to the country. The court observed that the petitioner, Advocate Rana Ilamudin, is not an aggrieved person and had no locus standi to file the instant case.
The petitioner submitted that recently three players including Muhammad Asif, Salman Butt and Muhammad Amir were punished by Anti Corruption Tribunal of International Cricket Council. He said they not only violated ICC and PCB rules but also committed rebellion with the country and its people. He said because of their act, they had not only brought bad name for themselves in all over the world but had also inflicted mental agony on the people.
The petitioner submitted that the punishment given by the ICC to the cricketers is less than what they deserve. He said as cricketers had become role models and icons for the country therefore there was no room of corruption in cricket. He said with corruption of these cricketers, high ups of the PCB could not be declared innocent and they should be investigated also. He said as former cricketer Sarfaza Nawaz also said that affairs of the cricket team were worsened and no one was paying heed to streamline them.
The petitioner also requested the court to freeze all assets of Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt, team manager and coach, accusing them of being part of corruption of the players. He said because of the above mentioned circumstances, freezing of accounts of the cricketers and the PCB high ups was necessary to avoid such incidents in the future.
