LAHORE: Hearing a petition against alleged contemptuous and anti-judiciary speeches by former primer minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam, the Lahore High Court on Monday summoned a responsible official of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Azhar Siddique argued before the court that Mr Sharif started a vilification campaign against the state institutions since his disqualification in Panama case by the Supreme Court. He said Maryam also joined the campaign of her father and launched into a tirade of criticism against the judiciary.

Referring to ongoing public meetings being addressed by Sharif and his daughter, the counsel said the speeches delivered by the respondents amounted to contempt of court and they were liable to be punished under the law.

He argued the apex judiciary had jurisdiction over all issues of a judicial nature and exclusive authority to decide whether an issue was political or non-political.

He said there shall not be any inappropriate or unwarranted interference in the judicial process, nor judicial decisions or tentative observations passed by courts be subjected to criticism in the national media.

The lawyer said the former premier and his daughter had not only been criticising judgments of the apex court but also directly trying to scandalise the judges.

He said the respondents seriously marked scratches on integrity of the judges, which also amounted to commit sedition against the state.

Advocate Siddique said the Pemra had failed to implement its code of conduct against airing of hate speeches and stuff containing defamation and contempt.

He said the frequent hate speeches by the former prime minister on television channels had been willfully overlooked by the Pemra and no channel had been punished for broadcasting ‘derogatory’ remarks of Mr Sharif and his daughter.

He asked the court to order the Pemra to ban broadcasting of hate speeches by the respondents as it could lead to anarchy in the country. Moreover, he said the act of the respondents was not only a contempt of court in view of Article 204 of the Constitution but also sedition.

He also sought suspension of the licences of television channels for airing hate material, hate speeches and derogatory remarks against the state institutions.

Justice Shahid Karim heard the arguments and issued a notice to the Pemra for Feb 23.

The judge directed a federal law officer to ensure presence of a responsible officer from the authority on the next hearing.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018