ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday accepted a petition filed against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz over ‘anti-judiciary speeches’.
Justice Amir Farooq conducted hearing on the plea filed by Adnan Iqbal. The plaintiff claimed that Nawaz and Maryam were spreading hatred against courts since disqualification of former prime minister in Panama case, particularly in their recent speeches at Punjab House and the PML-N’s Kot Momin rally. The petitioner argued that their speeches come under contempt of court and hence an investigation into the matter be launched.
The petition also named the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) as a respondent. The hearing of the case has been fixed for the next week.
Also on Monday, a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) over ‘anti-judiciary’ speeches delivered by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders.
The petition was submitted by a civilian, seeking contempt proceedings against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, PML-N MNA Talal Chaudhry and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah over their ‘excessive’ criticism on the judiciary.
The petitioner adopted the stance that the ruling party leaders had been criticising the judiciary in their speeches on regular basis. The petitioner pleaded for initiation of contempt proceedings against them. He also sought court directives to PEMRA for stopping news channels from airing their speeches targeting the judiciary.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had issued notices to the Sharif family in a case pertaining to anti-judiciary speeches. LHC had merged contempt of court petitions against Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
Meanwhile, former prime minister and president of ruling PML-N Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz have arrived in Islamabad to appear before the accountability court on Tuesday (today) in references filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz arrived in Islamabad from Lahore on a special flight and went straight to the Punjab House. The former prime minister will meet party leaders and ministers to discuss matters related to party as well as country during his stay at the Punjab House.
Published in Daily Times, January 30th 2018.
