KARACHI – A constitutional petition was filed at the Sindh High Court on Saturday, seeking contempt-of-court proceedings against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh for criticising and protesting Supreme Court’s decision of nullifying National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah’s appointment.
United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Secretary General Rana Faizul Hassan moved the petition and submitted that the citizens of a country, including members of political parties, have a constitutional right to record their protest, but there is a limit. He said that the provincial leadership of the ruling PPP had criticised and protested the Supreme Court’s order, thereby violating Article 204 of the Constitution.
The apex court had invalidated the appointment of Shah as NAB chairman on Thursday, following which the PPP Sindh aggressively criticised the decision and the judiciary in a press conference held later that day. Following the court’s verdict, the ruling party and the Sindh government had announced a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike across the province. The plaintiff submitted that adopting such an attitude could lead to confrontation between the government and the judiciary.
“The judiciary has received threats from the respondents,” he added. He said that this disgraceful approach was dishonouring the judiciary and painting a negative picture of the country across the world. The Sindh government, PPP Sindh General Secretary Taj Haider, MPA Sharjeel Memon, Javed Shah, Imdad Pitafi and Aga Taimoor were cited as respondents.
The petitioner pleaded the court to initiate contempt-of-court proceedings against the respondents. Admitting the plea for hearing, the court fixed March 15 as the next date of hearing.
