The Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing on a petition filed against formation of a parliamentary commission which recommended carving out of Bahawalpur South Punjab province.
The court directed the petitioner to argue his case in light of President Asif Ali Zardari’s letter to the National Assembly speaker for the formation of a parliamentary commission to form a new province.
Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan remarked that there was no interference in the parliamentary proceedings. He said the court was only looking into the legality of the president’s letter.
Justice Khan referred to a case in Canada in which the court ruled that formation of new provinces required a referendum.
The petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique complained that Federal Minister Syed Khurshid Shah had criticized the court. The court replied that “in democracy, everyone had the right to criticize”.
Siddique said that inclusion of the Mianwali district in the proposed Bahawalpur South Punjab province was against the aspirations of citizens.
