LAHORE: A full b
ench of the Lahore High Court on Monday declined to accept the Interior Ministry’s report on action against the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) head in London for making statements against Pakistan and initiating high treason proceedings against him.
The bench – consisting of Justice Sayyed Mazaha
r Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu and Justice Erum Sajad Gull – directed the interior secretary to submit a detailed report by December 7 on petitions moved by advocates Muhammad Azhar Siddique, Sardar Aftab Virk and others.
On Monday, Interior Secretary Arif Khan appeared along with the federal government’s law officers and submitted a report. He also sai
d that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisa
r Ali Khan was in the UK and had taken up the matter of Altaf Hussain with the authorities there.
The bench remarke
d that the matter was related to Pakistan and not the UK. It observe
d that Altaf Hussain was involved in a heinous offence of speaking against Pakistan, and the court would not allow anyone to speak against the country, which was created after a long struggle.
The b
ench observe
d that the court should be informed as to what action had been taken against such a person.
The petitioners had sought cancellation of MQM’s registration as a political party and action against Altaf Hussain under treason charges. They claime
d that Altaf Hussain was a British national and no foreign citizen could become head of a political party in Pakistan under the Political Parties Order 2002. Petitioners asserte
d that the recent speech of Altaf establishe
d that the MQM was more
of a terrorist outfit tha
n a political party, an
d that there should be a complete ban on it.
They said the government had the authority to cancel the registration of any political party. They sai
d that an application was moved in this regard but the federal government did not bother taking action on it.
They also requested the court to initiate proceedings under Article 6 of the constitution against the MQM chief and to disqualify his party’s parliamentarians.
.jpg)
