LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday stayed execution of a military court convict, Abdul Qayyum, who was awarded capital punishment on charge of abetting an attack on the office of an intelligence agency in Multan. Abdul Qayum was awarded death sentenced on January 4, 2015 by the military court under Pakistan Army (amendment) Act, 2015. Petitioner counsel said that the conviction was “unjust” as he [Abdul Qayyum] was not given an “opportunity of fair trial” and was condemned unheard. He requested the court to stay the execution of the petitioner till final decision of the petition since the army chief had already rejected mercy petition. The Punjab Home Department in its reply stated that the provisions of the Army Act were the law made by parliament, and that if any such provision tends to affect fundamental rights that provision did not become void, as newly added proviso to Article 175 of the constitution had already been declared by the Supreme Court “not ultra vires”. It stated that a division bench of the Lahore High Court (Bahawalpur seat) dismissed an identical petition on the same matter and this petition should also be dismissed. After hearing the arguments, the bench suspended operation of the death penalty and stayed execution of convicted Abdul Qayyum till next hearing on Jan 25. The bench also sought a reply from attorney general on the matter.