LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended an order of a single bench for demolition of houses in Miani Sahib Graveyard, with directions to the respondents to come up with the replies.
A division bench led by Justice Ayesha A Malik was hearing the appeals moved by Syed Fakhar Shah and others against the order of a single bench wherein the demolition of the houses was ordered in the graveyard.
The appellants said they had been living in their houses since before the creation of Pakistan and the land they possessed was purchased by their ancestors. One of the appellants said his elders bought five-kanal and 17-marla land at the place came under question.
Another appellant said he acquired two-kanal land during the first martial law administrator of the country and the graveyard’s committee issued notification regarding acquisition of land on June 6, 1962 and got possession of the said land on June 16 during the same year.
The appellants questioned the claim of the graveyard’s committee that the land they had been living belonged to the graveyard but it was not correct and the land was in their possession for years.
The committee, the appellants said, concealed the facts from the court. They asked the court to set aside the demolition order passed by the single bench and order the graveyard committee to submit evidence of its ownership.
The court stayed the demolition of the houses in the graveyard, sought reply from its committee and adjourned the hearing until Sept 29. Pregnant woman’s life term suspended: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday released a pregnant woman on bail after suspending her life imprisonment in a murder case.
Razia Bibi’s counsel advocate Ch Ghulam Mustafa told the bench that she was awarded life imprisonment in a murder case and since then she has been languishing in Sialkot Jail. He said the petitioner and two other women were charged with murder of one Fazal Abbas. However, one of them was acquitted and the other was given death penalty. The lawyer said his client who had been awarded life term was pregnant and could not be kept in jail under this condition. He argued that keeping a pregnant woman in jail was also not permitted under the relevant laws. The counsel asked the court to suspend the sentence of the petitioner and release her on bail.