The Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Sheikh Azmat Saeed, will proceed, on January 16, with a petition against sacking of Defence Secretary Khalid Naeem Lodhi. The petitioner, chairman of a public interest litigation company, Mohammad & Ahmad, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, stated that the Prime Minister sacked Lodhi on the plea of misconduct.
He said that removal of Lodhi was based on malafides and an attempt to create confrontation between institutions. He stated that Lodhi was removed without giving any show-cause notice and without providing him an opportunity to defend himself. He stated that issuance of show-cause notice to any government employee is mandatory and the government did not fulfil the legal formalities. He stated that the action was against the principles of natural justice and an attempt to play with the sovereignty and integrity of the country as well as to create hurdles for recovering the looted public money.
He stated that the ruling party took the impugned action to create hurdles for execution of any orders by the Supreme Court. He, therefore, requested the court to set aside the dismissal order of Khalid Naeem Lodhi and restrain Nargis Sethi from discharging the duties as Defence Secretary.