The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday disposed of a petition challenging the Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act 1972 as withdrawn.
Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain observed that US national Raymond Davis, who brought immunity laws in the limelight, has left Pakistan so there is no question left in the petition. The judge remarked that the petitioner might file a separate petition against the Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act 1972. On this, the petitioner requested the court to allow him to withdraw the petition.
The court, accepting the request, disposed of the case as withdrawn. The petition was filed by Azhar Siddique challenging the legal status given to diplomats by the federal government through the Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act 1972 under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 and Counsellor Relations 1963. During the hearing, Naseem Kashmiri, deputy attorney general, appearing in court on behalf of the federal government, said that the petition was linked to Davis and now the petition had no legal merit after the accused had been acquitted by the court after payment of diyat to families of deceased.
The petitioner opposed the request contending that the plea was not only related to Davis’ diplomatic immunity but it also challenged the Privileges Act 1972. In the petition, the federal government, the Punjab government, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) information secretary Fouzia Wahab, Davis and others were made respondents. The petitioner submitted that the said act was in conflict with the fundamental rights as envisaged in the constitution.
He requested the court to try Davis for deliberate murders of two Pakistanis and sentence him under laws of Pakistan. Siddique requested that the record of the Foreign Office, which had been illegally removed to the Interior Ministry, might be sent back to the Foreign Office and copies of it might be submitted in court. He also requested the court to declare the Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act 1972 as illegal.
