Daily Times

LAHORE: Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday reserved a verdict on a contempt petition against former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf. Nadeem Butt, a local resident, had filed the petition against the former military dictator. Counsel for petitioner Rana Asadullah Khan pointed out that Musharraf in his recent interview with a private television channel uttered “derogatory” remarks against the judiciary. He said that Musharraf in his interview had claimed that former army chief Gen (r) Raheel Sharif had helped Musharraf secure a safe exit from the country. He alleged that Musharraf tried to ridicule judiciary by saying that the army had helped him out against treason proceedings. He asserted that Musharraf had tried to made mockery of the judiciary. He requested the court that the Law Ministry be directed to initiate an inquiry against Musharraf for “scandalising and ridiculing” the judiciary. He also sought directives for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to take action against the news channel for airing a “derogatory” programme against the judiciary. He further requested the court to direct the federal government to file a reference with Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the All Pakistan Muslim League, a political party of Musharraf, for allegedly violating the Political Parties Order, 2002. After hearing the arguments, the LHC judge reserved the decision on maintainability of the petition.

Published in Daily Times, September 9^th 2017.