LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) while hearing a petition regarding anti-judiciary remarks made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, issued a notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Thursday.
The petition states that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz committed contempt of court during their speeches in a recently held public gathering in Haripur whereas PM Abbasi has also been a vocal critic of the judiciary for quite some time.
The petitioner has pleaded for the initiation of contempt proceedings against them and seeks directives to PEMRA for stopping news channels from airing their speeches targeting the judiciary.
LHC bench, taking up the petition, issued a notice to PEMRA, seeking its reply in the next hearing on February 14.
Earlier, during the Haripur rally, Nawaz Sharif said that justice should not be biased and should be the same for all. “The scales of justice should be even for all.”
“I salute those judges who termed him sadiq and ameen, said the deposed PM, adding that Imran had admitted to owning an offshore company and other offences but was still let off by the judges.
He also said the sanctity of the vote should be respected and the choice of the people should not be “torn apart”.
Similarly, PM Abbasi has also one various occasion criticised the judgements of the judiciary, especially the Panama verdict.
During one of his interviews recently, Abbasi called for the scrutiny of judges prior to their appointments as is the case in the United States.
“In the US, a judge’s entire life is inspected before his appointment,” he said, adding that no one questions dictators but civilian leaders are dragged into courts and are called ‘hijackers’ and ‘Sicilian Mafia’.
Abbasi also stated that every institution in the country is trying to carve its space in the state structure, adding that everywhere in the world parliament has oversight on the judiciary.