The Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought a response from the federation regarding the admissibility of a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over his 'derogatory' remarks about judges. Taking up the plea on Friday, LHC’s Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan asked Additional Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Duggal to tell the court whether or not the petition brought against the premier was admissible. At this, the additional attorney general said the Supreme Court had raised the same question yesterday [during Thursday's hearing on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 1999 amendment case]. “Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan had made it clear to the apex court that the prime minister’s remarks were not directed at the serving judges,” the state lawyer added.  At this, the court inquired of the AAG if he was in possession of a written order from the Supreme Court. He said the written order had not yet been received from the apex court. 

Subsequently, the court, while issuing a notice, sought a response from the federal government regarding the admissibility of the contempt petition against the prime minister. Ashba Kamran, a lawyer, had moved the petition on Thursday, seeking the initiation of contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his alleged use of inappropriate words regarding judges.  The petitioner had listed the federal government as a respondent through the principal secretary to the prime minister. On March 28, PM Shehbaz had stated that some “black sheep” in the judiciary were bent upon giving relief to the incarcerated former premier, Imran Khan, in various cases.  “You are Pakistanis; you are judges. If development does not return to Pakistan, then there will be no judges, no politicians, and no one else. Do you want this? I believe that most of these judges are Pakistanis and think about Pakistan’s development, but some ‘black sheep’ are helping the PTI founder,” Shehbaz had said in his address during a general council meeting of the PML-N which had re-elected three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to be the president of the party.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan