Justice Sheikh Ahmed Farooq of the Lahore High Court (LHC) refused on Thursday to hear a petition challenging the notification of the appointment of Babar Awan as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) vice-president. Justice Farooq forwarded the petition to chief justice Azmat Saeed saying that identical cases were pending adjudication before Justice Khalid Mehmood therefore it would be better if this case was also presented before the same justice. The petition was filed by a local lawyer, Afaq Ahmad, demanding that the record of Babar Awan’s appointment notification be called to ascertain whether he had been appointed by President Asif Ali Zardari or if Awan had drafted the letter himself.
The petition also requested that the details about the PPP and PPP Patriot office bearers and the registration of parties with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) be submitted before the LHC.
The petitioner contended that the present government had contested the 2008 elections from the Pakistan peoples Party (parliamentarian) platform and not from the PPP of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Therefore, Awan could not be the vice-president of ZA Bhutto’s party.
The petitioner alleged that Babar Awan was conspiring against President Zardari by stating that he (president) had nominated him as vice-president because he could not participate in political activities after the LHC dual office judgment against him.
He said only PPP parliamentary (PPPP) was currently registered with the ECP. Awan had been appointed the vice-president of a party which did not exist in the commission’s records.
His appointment was illegal and violated ECP laws. He demanded the court summon the notification’s record if any and declare it to be in violation of the commission’s laws.
LHC orders booking police clerks: Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered the Civil Lines Police Station SHO to register an FIR against three police officials including the clerks of the Capital City Police Office (CCPO) for the embezzlement of funds reserved for the purchase of uniforms and daily allowances.
Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh passed the order on the petition filed by Muhammad Iqbal asking for an FIR against the officials involved in the embezzlement. The petitioner alleged that the CCPO office’s senior clerk Ayub Hashmi, ex-clerk Muhammad Niaz and Police Volunteer district commander Muhammad Younus misappropriated funds worth millions of rupees.
He said he submitted several applications to police officials against the personnel concerned and later filed a petition in the session court which ordered that FIRs be registered against them, adding that the court’s orders had not been fulfilled to date.
When summoned, Civil Lines Police Station SHO Muhammad Abid appeared before the court along with the fund record. The court order the clerks to be booked after examining the records.
LHC order FIR against SHO, SI: LHC Justice Ijaz Ahmed ordered the Gujranwala Regional Police Officer on Thursday to register against SHO Rafaqat Ali and sub inspector Khalid Javed of Gujranwala’ Rehmania police station for lying and giving a misstatement in the court.
According to details the court was hearing a petition two days ago for the registration of FIRs filed by Muhammad Iqbal. SHO Rafaqat was summoned in this regard. However SI Khalid appeared in the court in his stead and claimed that the SHO could not appear before court due to some heart ailment. The SHO came to court on Thursday and that he was not able to come to court due to a throat ailment. Declaring the statements of the two officials contradictory, the justice ordered RPO to register cases against both of them.
