Petitioner Maulvi Iqbal Haider assailed the notification of the cabinet division secretary with regard to the appointment of Pakistan Muslim League-Q leader Elahi as deputy prime minister. He submitted that there was no provision in the Constitution for the appointment of a deputy prime minister.

Haider said that after the disqualification of Yusuf Raza Gilani as prime minister by the Supreme Court for his failure to comply with the Supreme Court judgment in the NRO case, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party tried to elect a member of parliament who vowed to continue the policy of the ex-prime minister in respect of the implementation of the SC judgment in the case.

He submitted that the ruling party gave incentives in the shape of federal ministries, state ministries and other offices to other political groups for obtaining votes to elect Raja Pervez Ashraf as prime minister, who, he alleged, was also involved in the rental power corruption case.

The petitioner said that more than 65 federal ministers, state ministers, advisers and special assistants had been appointed and the PML-Q was rewarded by creating the new post of deputy prime minister, “which is against the spirit of the Constitution”. He alleged that the ruling party created the post for awarding a political bribe to its coalition partner.

Citing Elahi, the law secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the secretary of the cabinet division and the secretary of the establishment division, the petitioner prayed to the court to declare the appointment of Elahi as deputy prime minister illegal and hold that any act or order passed by the deputy prime minister would also be unconstitutional and void ab-initio.

MQM-H petition

The SHC on Thursday dismissed an application for an urgent hearing filed by Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi seeking the rehabilitation of party activists in “no-go areas” and the lifting of an unannounced ban on political activities.

MQM-H representative Aleem Khan submitted in the petition that the state machinery had been conducting a crackdown against leaders and activists of the party for the last nine years at the behest of its rival the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which was a coalition partner of the present and previous governments.

He submitted that several no-go areas still exist in different parts of the city, where leaders and activists of the MQM-H could not go to carry out political activities. He said this state of affairs was a violation of a Supreme Court judgment from last year, which ordered for an end to all no-go areas in the city.

Khan said that hundreds of displaced families of MQM-H activities could not shifted to their homes in Shah Faisal, Malir, Landhi and Lines Area, where barricades and iron gates had been erected by the rival group.

The court was prayed to allow the petitioner party to carry out political activities, provide protection to leaders and activists of the MQM-H and order the removal of all no-go areas from the city.

Bank plea against FIA

The SHC on Thursday restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from taking adverse action against officials of a private bank in an auto car-financing fraud case.

Petitioner Bank Al-Falah submitted that the FIA was probing a fraud case with regard to auto car-financing on fake documents and in the garb of the inquiry FIA officials were harassing bank officials and demanding documents/transactions of other branches not concerned with the case.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Tasnim, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the deputy attorney general and in the meantime restrained the FIA from taking adverse action against the bank and its staff.