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| The Lahore High Court |
Justice Umar Atta Bandial of the Lahore High Court Thursday admitted to regular hearing a petition seeking disqualifications of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for allegedly subverting the Constitution by way of not implementing the judicial decisions. The court also issued notice to the Attorney General of Pakistan and the federal government on the petition. The petitioner has also sought a sedition case against the PM. The petitioner contended that the PM was not following the court orders right from the case of NRO. Hence, he (PM) was making breach of the oath he had taken to uphold the Constitution.
The Bench admitted the petition to regular hearing after Advocate A K Dogar had made preliminary submissions on behalf of petitioner Advocate Allah Buksh Gondal. Following a court direction, the petitioner had previously amended the plea to the affect of challenging Article 6(3) of the Constitution, which relates to the high treason action while allowing only the federal government to initiate a reference for this purpose. The petitioner prays to make this provision more open to let others also initiate a reference to seek high treason action against a person. Notice has also been issued on the amended petition for September 8 next when main case will also come up for further proceedings. The petitioner contends that the Prime Minister as chief executive is under oath to protect the Constitution and the organs functioning under it. Advocate Dogar argued that it was paramount duty of the PM to get the Supreme Court decision implemented and if he fails to fulfill that obligation, he in fact is committing a gross violation of the Constitution.
In the petition, it has been stated that the Executive had dragged its feet on the implementation of a number of judicial orders among them, including one seeking writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and another which had restrained use of the presidency for political purposes, but no regard was paid to the implementation of the same. He further contends that officers were appointed to departments which were party before the Court, with an aim to cover the court decisions and thwart their execution. The petitioner accused the PM of accepting dictations from the President instead of following the constitutional requirements, which he adds, amounts to a gesture on his part to undermine the Constitution and commit its breach. The petitioner has prayed to declaring the Prime Minister disqualified.
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