ISLAMABAD: A retired major general has sought to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the defence secretary and adjutant general for not submitting replies to a petition he filed in 2015 to claim service-related benefits.

A Lahore High Cour t bench heard the petition in February 2015 and issued notices on Mar 24 last year to respondents for Sept 21, 2016, seeking their replies. However, no replies have been submitted by the ministry so far.

The petitioner, Ahsan Ahmed, filed a contempt of court petition citing defence secretary retired Lt Gen Zamirul Hassan, and Adjutant General Lt Gen Anwar Ali Haider as respondents. The petitioner alleged that retired Gen Pervez Musharraf deprived him of his service benefits by cancelling the allotment of 50 acres of land in Bahawalnagar, a plot in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Karachi and another in DHA Rawalpindi to him.

He claimed Mr Musharraf did so because he refused to help him rig the 2002 election.

The petition said the petitioner was appointed minister of health and population welfare in Sindh in June 2000 after he retired from the army. He was also awarded a presidential shield for his performance on July 11, 2002.

However, differences arose after the petitioner opposed the idea of a referendum in the cabinet in 2002. When the October 2002 election schedule was announced, the Musharraf government planned large-scale rigging and pressured the petitioner through the Sindh governor and secret agencies` operatives, to relocate Health and Population Planning officials to manage the election, which the petitionerrefused to do.

The petitioner said he retired after 34 years of service on Sept 13, 1999. He was allotted 50 acres of agricultural land under the Settlement Scheme in Bahawalnagar district on April17,1999. He was also allotte d a plot in DH A Rawalpindi and, according to the rules of the military housing scheme, the petitioner was allotted a plot in Askari Villas housing scheme, in Clifton, Karachi on Dec 13, 2002. The petitioner made full payments for all these provisions and became the legal owner of the properties. Staff Reporter