Court seeks record of ‘illegal’ campus case

LAHORE

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce record of a case relating to establishment of ‘illegal’ Lahore campus of Bahauddin Zakriya University (BZU).

A division bench headed by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi was hearing a bail petition of BZU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khwaja Alqama. Senior lawyer Asma Jahangir appeared on behalf of the vice-chancellor and said that her client did not misuse his powers but approved the establishment of the Lahore campus in light of a summary of the Punjab government. She said the arrest of the VC was a result of political pressure. The counsel asked the bench to release the VC on bail.

After a brief hearing, the bench issued notice to the NAB and summoned the detailed record of the case for January 19.

deferred: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday deferred hearing on bail application of Asmat Mahmood, a pilot of a private airline facing charges of crash-landing under the influence of liquor.

Bench postponed the hearing, as civil aviation counsel did not appear before the court.

The court earlier had directed the prosecution to produce flight data and safety investigation report.

Asmat Mahmood had crash-landed a plane at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore. The Sarwar road police had arrested Asmat Mehmood for allegedly crash-landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport on November 3 under the influence of liquor.

A special anti-terrorism court on December 4 had rejected bail petition of Asmat Mehmood.

Applicant lawyer said captain was forced to crash-landing as a technical fault had occurred in the landing gear. He said the pilot had no other option but to crash land the plane to save lives of the passengers on board. He said the applicant had already informed the control room about the plane condition. He said false allegation of pilot drunken stage were levelled. He asserted that the whole case was politically motivated and a bid to save the real culprits.