Court will go ahead with ex-parte proceedings in Zardari dual office case

The Bench,headed by Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry,decided to proceed ex-parte with the petitions after nobody appeared in court on behalf of the federal government during several recent hearings.

The Bench also asked the federal Law Secretary to appear in the court but he failed to do so.

The leading counsel in the case,A K Dogar,who is also the lawyer for Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed,said in his arguments on Thursday that the court had to decide if Zardari could hold the office of the President as his political office of co-chairman of the PPP had become a secondary issue now.

Dogar said Zardari was ineligible for contesting the presidential election because he filed nomination papers for a non-political office (President) when he was holding a political office (co-chairperson of the PPP).

The Bench,while referring to the case of former President Pervez Musharraf,observed that the Supreme Court had decided the matter of President’s dual office on merit but the verdict was not implemented.

The Bench then adjourned the hearing till October 21.

A K Dogar,Engineer Ghulam Jillani and Asif Mahmood Khan have filed the petitions against Zardari.

On June 21,a legal panel representing Zardari boycotted the court proceedings after an application against the maintainability of these petitions was dismissed by the Bench.

Advocate Talib H Rizvi headed the panel.

After that,the President and the federal government remained unrepresented in the court’s proceedings.

According to the petitions,Zardari has allegedly violated the constitution by holding both posts.

The petitions further said that the President,being the head of the state,could not hold the office of a political party.