LHC requires satisfaction about its jurisdiction

LAHORE Justice Ch Iftikhar Hussain of the Lahore High Court Tuesday required petitioner and the law officer to satisfy the court on next hearing whether it had jurisdiction to hear the petition which challenged the payment of Diyat to the legal heirs of Faheem and Faizan, who were killed by CIA contractor Raymond Davis on January 27 last. The court has fixed March 29 as next date hearing of the petition filed by Advocate Rana Ilamud Din Ghazi challenging payment of Diyat money by government of Pakistan to the legal heirs of the deceased and terms the same illegal, unlawful and un-Islamic for the same has been paid from the tax payers money. Ghazi also urged the court to initiate proceedings to fix responsibility on those who avoided inclusion of Anti Terrorism Act and espionage charges in the FIR against Raymond. The petitioner submitted that sudden release of accused Raymond Davis in double murder case has left the country people in shock. Raymond has been involved in anti-state activities for three years but the investigators did not probe him on these lines. He said his release has left numerous questions in the mind of the people. He said the people thought that IG Police and all other concerned officials, officials of prosecutor Punjab, additional district sessions judge Yousaf Aujla, Punjab Law minister, and Punjab Revenue Ministry failed in fulfilling their responsibilities but went on to support release of the accused. The Court however in the first instance desired to judge maintainability of the petition on the said proposition.