Full LHC bench to hear peitions against Zardari, Gilani

The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry here Friday constituted a full bench to hear petitions against President Asif Ali Zardari for not disassociating himself from political activities and Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani for "continuously defying" orders of superior judiciary.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed will head the full bench while Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh and Justice Chaudhry Shahid Saeed will be its members. Advocate A. K. Dogar filed these petitions on behalf of two petitioners and sought direction for President Zardari to disassociate himself from political office of PPP in light of a decision given by a full bench of the court in May this year.
The petitioner, Rana Ilamudin Ghazi, said that the full bench of the high court in its order had declared the involvement of the president in political activities unconstitutional. He said the respondent (Zardari) had not disassociated himself from political activities at the earliest as expected by the court, nor did he stop "misusing" the premises of the presidency for purposes of his political party. The petition against the PM was filed by another bar member, Allah Bakhsh Gondal, and contended that Gilani by "deliberate defiance" of Supreme Court orders and repeated attempts to subvert the constitution had ceased to hold the office by automatic operation of provisions of Articles 5, 6 and 92(2) of the constitution.
The petitioner claimed the federal government started confrontation with SC after the court struck down the national reconciliation ordinance (NRO) in December 2009. He also claimed that the government had not complied with the directions repeatedly given by the court to write a letter to Swiss authorities regarding reopening of 60 million dollar corruption cases.
The petitioner further said the prime minister had taken no step to implement a Lahore high court order wherein President Zardari was expected to disassociate himself from political office at earliest possible. The petitioner, therefore, prayed to the court to declare that the prime minister had deliberately defied and repeatedly brushed aside orders of SC and had in utter bad faith tried to subvert the constitution. Furthermore, he urged the court to also declare that the PM had become disqualified to hold his office.