Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday dismissed a contempt of court petition against JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PML-N leaders declaring it non-maintainable. Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani of IHC heard the case along with the objections of Registrar Office.

At the outset of hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Ali Ijaz Butter informed the court that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief had been giving statements against judges on the social media. Justice Kayani asked that whether they had mentioned the IHC court anywhere, and then directed the petitioner to approach the top court and the Lahore High Court as he was referring their statements about them. The court asked as the petitioner also belonged to Lahore why he had approached the IHC while ignoring the forums in his city. Justice Kayani dismissed the petition declaring it non-maintainable. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf- (PTI) led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had decided to book leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for their “hateful and seditious statements” against the state institutions.

An application seeking first information report (FIR) was filed at the Sharqi police station under Section 196 (prosecution for offences against the state) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 108-A (abetment in Pakistan of offences outside it) and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The application nominated PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah, Atta Tarar, Ayaz Sadiq, Pervaiz Rashid and JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The complainant, a lawyer by profession, said, “Hateful remarks against the country have been passed by the PDM leaders in the past in an attempt to damage the institutions and sovereignty.” He alleged that the “provocative” statements against the judiciary and military had since been widely circulated on social media and were viewed by a large number of people across the globe.