LAHORE: Justice Shahid Jamil Khan of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday recommended the chief justice to constitute a larger bench to hear a petition questioning the appointment of the law officers on political consideration.

Afzal Azeem Pahat, a lawyer, had filed the petition pleading that Umair Khan Niazi and Anees Hashmi were holding offices of Insaf Lawyers Forum, the lawyers’ wing of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, at the time of their appointment as additional advocate generals on Dec 7, 2018.

His counsel contended that the offices of the additional and assistant advocate generals fell in the definition of service of Pakistan under article 240 of the Constitution. He said a person in service of Pakistan could not be a member of any such association or political party.

At the last hearing, Justice Khan had expressed concern over political appointments of the law officers in the office of the Advocate General of Punjab (AGP).

On Wednesday, the judge observed that important legal points had been raised in the petition and the same needed to be decided by a larger bench.

The judge forwarded the petition to the chief justice with a suggestion to constitute a larger bench.

Paragon case: An accountability court on Wednesday issued bailable arrest warrants for four prosecution witnesses for not appearing in the proceedings of the Paragon reference against former railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq and his brother former provincial minister Khwaja Salman Rafiq.

The Khwaja brothers appeared before the court while a prosecution witness was cross examined by the defence counsel.

Presiding Judge Naseem Ahmad Virk issued bailable arrest warrants for prosecution witnesses Anwar Hussain, Muhammad Ijaz, Munawar Hussain and Waqas Maqsood as they failed to appear despite repeated summons.

The judge directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to ensure appearance of the witnesses at the next hearing on Jan 12.

The NAB accused the Khwaja brothers of wrongfully gaining Rs18.2 million approximately from M/s Paragon City (pvt) Limited in their bank accounts. It said the Khwaja brothers through their “benamidars” and with the abatement of Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue.

It said the suspects along with other accomplices cheated the public at large and obtained illegal financial benefits from the funds of the illegal society.

Release: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday released a man convicted of chopping off privates of a class nine student and depriving him of his eyesight, as the convict completed his sentence.

A trial court handed down two-year imprisonment to the accused, Hanif, besides imposing a Rs840,000 fine on him to be paid to the victim.

The convict filed an appeal, pleading that he had undergone his jail term. However, he sought time to pay the fine to the victim, requesting the court to order his release.

The court allowed the appeal of the convict and permitted him to pay the fine to the victim in installments of three years.

As per the prosecution, the convict and his accomplices had abducted Aesh Muhammad, a class nine student, from his school in Raiwind area and taken him to a deserted place where they chopped off his privates and wounded his eyes, leaving him visually impaired for life.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021