Daily Times

LAHORE: Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought assistance from attorney general of Pakistan and advocate general Punjab to decide on maintainability of a petition filed against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, senators and other elected representatives for their alleged speeches against judges of the Supreme Court during PML-N rally from Islamabad to Lahore.

The other respondents included Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, Senator Pervez Rashid, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Talal Chaudhry, Maiza Hameed, Abid Sher Ali, Danyal Aziz and Asif Kirmani.

The judge hearing petition moved by Amina Malik of the Civil Society Network issued pre-admission notices to respondents till August 25 and also sought assistance from the federal and provincial law officers to decide the maintainability of the petition.

The petitioner stated that the apex court had declared Nawaz Sharif disqualified from being elected as member of parliament. He stated that Nawaz Sharif had been making mockery of the top court judges in his speeches during his four-day homecoming rally from Islamabad to Lahore.

He stated that former prime minister’s speeches against judges amount to contempt of court and a revolt against the constitution. He stated in the petition that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was also backing Nawaz Sharif due to which his ‘contemptuous’ speeches were continuously being telecast on the electronic media.

He said that Nawaz Sharif and other party members had been committing sedition by trying to defame institutions of judiciary and the army. He said that the accused had been trying to incite people against the state institutions whereas every person and even government functionaries was required to respect and obey orders of the courts with due dignity for the institution.

He alleged that the motive behind disgracing and committing contempt was to influence the process of filing of references against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) before the trial court over charges of corruption. The petitioner requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against Nawaz under Article 402.

Published in Daily Times, August 16^th 2017.