A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday seeking contempt of court proceedings against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Dr Babar Awan.
Advocate Afaq Ahmed filed the petition submitting that Awan was frequently maligning the judiciary during his press conferences and media talks. He alleged that everybody knew that Awan had distributed sweets when former PM and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was convicted by the LHC. Afaq said that later Awan joined the PPP and took a U-turn by terming the conviction as a judicial murder and continued criticising judgments of the superior judiciary and issued remarks on sub-judice matters. The petitioner pointed out that in a recent press conference, the PPP senator not only criticised SC proceedings but also tried to establish a secret relation of the court with a specific political party while speaking on the memogate issue, which is sub-judice. Afaq requested the court that the senator be restrained from issuing any statement on sub-judice matters and the media be also barred from airing or publishing such statements. He also requested the court that Awan be disqualified from contesting general elections.
Naeem’s remand extended: An accountability court on Saturday extended the physical remand of Dr Majid Naeem, former Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) principal until December 7.
Earlier on November 21, the court had extended the remand of the accused until December 5 but as it is a public holiday due to Muharram, NAB authorities presented the accused prior to the hearing date to get the date exchanged. The accused is involved in a reference, which was filed in an accountability court in December 2010, over charges of misappropriation of Rs 2.7 million through misuse of authority.
According to the reference, Naeem, while serving as PUCIT principal, withdrew the amount from university funds without approval of the competent authority and used the money for his personal use by corrupt, dishonest and illegal means. The court had framed charges against the accused on February 28. Due to non-appointment of the chairman NAB, Naeem’s arrest warrants could not be issued. The accused took benefit of the situation and intentionally started to avoid appearing in court and the investigation officer of the reference. The NAB chairman, after assuming office, issued the arrest warrant of the accused who was arrested later from Lahore.
SENT ON PHYSICAL REMAND: An accountability court sent Rizwan Irfan on physical demand until December 8. The accused was arrested on charges of misappropriation of a hefty amount during transfer of property.