The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned till March 6, the proceedings in a petition challenging the house arrest of Amir Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed, and directed the law officer to produce the relevant material on the basis of which he was detained in his house.
Earlier the court when asked the law officer about the material on which government had detained Qazi he sought short adjournment to submit the same. The court, accordingly, put off the proceedings till March 6 for further hearing and rose for the day.
Qazi in his petition contended that his detention is illegal and without lawful authority. He said that his detention was made with mala fide intentions only to victimise him politically and to restrain him from approaching the people on the issue of blasphemous caricatures.
He, therefore, prayed to the court to declare his detention as illegal, unconstitutional and without lawful authority.
The court passed these orders in a petition filed by one Bashir Ahmed, who challenged the decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and referred his case to a city magistrate instead of magistrate of section 30.
The petitioner's counsel Aftab Ahmed Bajwa contended that event of the case was same; hence if different judicial officials could pass conflicting orders, it might create confusion.
It would be difficult for a magistrate to give conflicting verdict in a matter, which had already been decided by a session's judge.
The court, while inclining with the petitioner's counsel, set aside the decision of the LHC and ordered transfer of the case in question from the court of a magistrate to session's judge.
The bench will take up the petition on March 06 for its disposal in accordance with the law. The petitioner counsel Mian Hanif Tahir also filed another petition before the LHC praying for immediate hearing of the case, as the Senate elections are scheduled for March 06.