Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik on Tuesday directed the police to submit a comprehensive report before the court by March 20 after completing the investigation of a collapsed medicine factory. The LHC passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the owners of the collapsed factory that challenged the insertion of murder under Section 302 in the First Information Report (FIR) registered against them. Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel stated that the Punjab government had also admitted before the apex court that the incident was accidental, and therefore, an insertion of Section 302 was illegal. The Central Investigation Agency Superintendent (SP) M Liaqat told the court that the investigation of the matter was in progress.
The court directed the SP to complete the investigation and submit the report before the court by March 20. The medicine factory owners, including Zafar Iqbal, Zaheer Iqbal and Zubair Iqbal, submitted in their petition that the police had unlawfully sealed the petitioners’ residential house, warehouse and also compounded all the vehicles for their personal use as well as seized the entire machinery of the destroyed factory. The petitioners’ counsel requested the court to quash the FIR as it was illegal. He also pleaded the court to pass the directions to bar the police from illegally harassing the petitioners. At least 24 people lost their lives when the factory collapsed due to a boiler burst on February 6.
LHC gives Awan deadline to plead his case: Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday deferred a plea for the disqualification of Babar Awan from the Senate until March 1, and directed the parties to argue on the maintainability of the petition in the next hearing. The petitioner’s counsel Shahid Pervaiz Jami filed the petition challenging the eligibility of Awan, a PPP stalwart, recently elected as a senator.
The petitioner contented that Awan was not eligible for a senator’s position because he had concealed his assets from the Election Commission, and made himself eligible for disqualification. He said the Election Commission of Pakistan had unlawfully accepted Awan’s nomination papers for a senate seat from Punjab, ignoring that Awan was a defaulter of agriculture tax, had accumulated illegal assets, held a bogus PhD degree and mocked the judiciary in a contempt of court case at the Supreme Court.
Referring to a chart published by Transparency International Pakistan, the petitioner said Awan’s assets had increased by Rs 282.3 million during the five years of his last tenure.
Earlier, Awan appeared before the court and sought time. He requested the court to adjourn the matter until March 3 as he was busy in political matters. However, the court rejected the request and adjourned the matter until March 1, observing that Awan’s counsel could appear on his behalf.
