A petition was submitted in the Supreme Court (SC), seeking contempt of court proceedings against Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Pir Afzal Qadri, a local news outlet reported on Tuesday.
The petitioner, in his application, asked if the two leaders had some sort of license to desecrate the court. “Do they have any permission to use inappropriate words against the court?” Barrister Masroor Shah asked.
“Should all citizens not be faithful to the state in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan?” he asked.
Shah pointed out that the aforementioned leaders disparaged the court in their address to their supporters following the verdict of the top court in the Aasia Bibi case.
Peace protest, he added, is everyone’s right in a democratic society, but no one has the right to paralyse the lives of other citizens under the garb of protest.
“Did the foul language used by the two leaders during the protests not account for contempt of court?” he asked.
The petitioner asked the court to begin proceedings, relating to contempt, against the two leaders, and take them to task.
The TLP chief and dozens of party leaders were arrested by police last week in a raid on his residence in Lahore.
Rizvi-led TLP had called of its countrywide protest sit-ins following reaching of an agreement with the federal and Punjab governments. On October 30, nationwide protests erupted against the acquittal of blasphemy accused Aasia Bibi, by SC.