Judge recuses himself from hearing contempt petitions against Sharifs

LAHORE: Yet another larger bench formed to hear and decide petitions seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz was dissolved after a judge recused himself from hearing the case.

Justice Shahid Mobeen declined to proceed with the matter, dissolving the three-judge bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Last week, LHC Chief Justice Yawar Ali formed a new full bench, headed by Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and comprising Justice Shahid Mobeen and Justice Aatir Mehmood, after Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan was transferred to the Multan bench.

The three-judge bench was formed to hear the petitions involving anti-judiciary speeches of the PML-N supreme leader and his daughter.

Earlier, the court had issued a notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to submit comments, explaining the measures it has taken to stop the airing of anti-judiciary speeches by the duo.

The petitioners submitted that Sharif and his daughter had been severely criticizing the judiciary in their public speeches.

They said the regulatory body had so far failed to take any action to stop the airing of the speeches despite high court orders in this regard.

The petitioners pleaded with the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Sharif and his daughter and restrain them from maligning the judiciary.

In January this year, the Islamabad High Court  had admitted for hearing a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for criticizing the judiciary in their speeches.

Advocate Adnan Iqbal has taken the Sharif family to the high court for severely criticizing the judiciary in the wake of disqualification of the thrice-elected premier at the hands of the apex court in the Panama Papers case.

The petitioner submitted that the duo had been inciting hatred against the judiciary in their speeches, which constituted contempt of court.

He stated they had made anti-judiciary remarks in their recent speeches at Punjab House and Kot Momin’s public meeting.

The petitioner, thus, pleaded with the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against them and direct the Pemra to restrain television channels from airing their contemptuous speeches.