LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday gave the “last opportunity” to a provincial law officer to file a reply to a petition seeking a restraining order against the functioning of the caretaker government beyond May 14.

Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh heard the petition filed by Aftab Ahmad Bajwa, former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

A law officer appeared before the court and sought time to file a reply on behalf of the government.

The judge gave the last opportunity to the lawyer to file the reply by Oct 11.

The petitioner lawyer contended that the sole purpose of the caretaker government as mandated under the Elections Act, 2017 was to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

He said during the interim period, from dissolution of the National Assembly till fresh elections, the caretaker set-up was empowered only to attend to day-to-day matters necessary to run the affairs of the government for a limited period of 90 days.

He said the caretaker government automatically lost its legitimacy after the lapse of 90-day period on May 14, irrespective of the fact whether the elections were conducted.

The lawyer argued that a caretaker set-up had a limited purpose of ensuring honest, free and fair elections and to hand over the baton to the duly elected government.

He asked the court to declare that the functioning of the caretaker government beyond May 14 was illegal, void and having no sanctity in the eyes of law.

He also sought the actions taken by the incumbent caretaker government should be declared illegal.

The petitioner-lawyer further requested the court to order the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appoint a new caretaker government or the previously elected government be restored.

Khadija Shah: The Lahore High Court (LHC) issued notices to the prosecution and the police on Wednesday regarding petitions from fashion designer Khadija Shah seeking post-arrest bail in two cases related to the May 9 riots – attacks on Jinnah House and Askari Tower.

A two-judge bench, led by Justice Alia Neelum, heard the preliminary arguments from the petitioner’s counsel and directed the respondents to file their replies by Oct 11. The bench also asked the police to provide the case records.

Petitioner’s counsel Sameer Khosa argued that the police had arrested Ms Shah without any evidence, purely on political grounds. He said that the petitioner was a mother of three children, with the youngest being just five years old, in dire need of maternal care.

He said that the petitioner required serious medical attention and should not be kept behind bars indefinitely. He said that all the charges against the petitioner were false, as she was not involved in any illegal activity or violence. He requested the court to grant the petitions and release the petitioner on bail.

Ms Shah had surrendered to the police on May 23 after going into hiding to avoid arrest in the May 9 cases. On May 9, she had posted videos of her participation in the PTI protest outside the corps commander’s house on her social media accounts.

MANSHA BAMM: A two-judge LHC bench set aside the physical remand of notorious land grabber Mansha Bamm in a case related to the illegal possession of billions of rupees worth of land.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan represented Bamm and argued that the police had arrested the petitioner based on illegal directives from the caretaker chief minister.

He said that the police had taken the petitioner from his Valencia Town house and obtained his physical remand from a local court through illegal means.

He said that the petitioner was not required in any criminal case, and civil cases involving his family were already pending against the Lahore Development Authority.

He mentioned that the police had initiated an anti-encroachment operation with the aim of withdrawing these cases, following instructions from the caretaker chief minister.

The bench nullified the petitioner’s physical remand and ordered the police to place him in judicial remand in jail.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2023