LAHORE: A senior lawyer on Wednesday tried to convince a Lahore High Court full bench that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was no more loyal to the federal government and guilty of high-treason.

Pleading a petition against the Nov 2 Islamabad `lockdown` call by the PTI chief, Advocate A.K Dogar argued before the threejudge bench that an opposition has to be faithful to the government and should not try to destabilise it.

`Opposition is not supposed to destabilize the government because it is part of the system.

Imran Khan did not meet the definition of loyalty, the lawyer said reminding the judges some old statements of Mr Khan wherein he, what the lawyer believed, tried to `incite` people for civil disobedience. The counsel said Mr Khan and his party workers also tried to invade the parliament house making army to intervene and control the situation.

Apparently not fully persuaded by the arguments, the bench observed that it was a debatable issue.

Justice Shahid Hameed Dar heads the full bench with Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq and Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan.

Assailing the lockdown call in particular, Advocate Dogar said a procession held with unconstitutional intentions fell within the definition of an unlawful assembly.

`A gathering of more than five persons intending to topple an elected government amounts to an unlawful assembly,`he said. Referring to Article 5 of the Constitution, the counsel said organizer of an unlawful assembly would be guilty of high-treason.

He further argued that undermining the Constitution was equal to subversion and any attempt to weaken or destroy a political system amounted to subversion.

The lawyer read the article out to the bench and said, `It is not a provision only but a command of the Constitution.` Article 5 of the Constitution reads as `Loyalty to the State is the basic duty of every citizen.

Advocate Dogar stated that in the prevailing parliamentary system the opposition has to be loyal to the federal government as required by the article 5.

As the arguments of the petitioner`s counsel were in progress, the bench deferre d further hearing for Thursday (today). The bench also accepted an adjournment request made on behalf of PTPs counsel Ahmad Awais.

Lawyers Foundation for Justice had filed the petition saying the PTI chief had been involved in unconstitutional activities.

The petition said if Islamabad was shut down, Supreme Court, Parliament, Cabinet Secretariat and all offices of the government would become dysfunctional.

It pleaded that the fundamental right of speech and expression under Article 19 of the Constitution was not absolute right but subject to security, integrity, defence of the country, public order and morality.

It asked the court to restrain the PTI chief from unconstitutional act of locking the federal capital down.