Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Thursday restored a petition seeking registration of a high-treason case against former president Asif Ali Zardari for allegedly uttering remarks against the Pakistan Army. Advocate Aftab Virk had filed the petition contending that the former president used derogatory language against the army in one of his speeches.

Earlier, the chief justice dismissed the petition for non-prosecution on October 21. However, Virk moved an application for restoration of his petition. He contended that he had failed to appear before the court in the last hearing due to unavoidable commitment. He requested the chief justice to restore the petition and decide it on merit. The chief justice allowed the request and issued notices to the government. The court also directed the petitioner to come up on November 25 with arguments in support of maintainability of the petition.

The petitioner had submitted that the former president spoke against the Pakistan Army when it was busy with Zarb-e-Azb operation and such a statement against it at this time was not good. The petitioner said the former president had committed treason by attacking and maligning the institution of army. He claimed that nobody could be allowed to make such statement against the institution of national security. He asked the court to try the former president under Article 6 of the constitution.