LAHORE : Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh of the Lahore High Court (LHC) onMonday accepted a petition to ban former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s“anti-judiciary speeches”.
Submitted by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffery, the petition outlined that the“inflammatory rhetoric” used by Sharif in his speeches was in directcontempt of the court. It further stated that his speeches could be“classified under treason and were a threat to the sovereignty of thestate”.
The transmission and publication of such speeches should, therefore, bebanned, stated the petition, citing the example of MQM-London’s leader,whose speeches were banned in 2015 due to an anti-state rhetoric. Jafferyrequested that Sharif’s speeches should also be banned in a similarfashion. Justice Sheikh forwarded the petition to a three-member full benchof LHC and fixed the hearing for April 2.
Following the Panamagate verdict, Sharif and other PML-N leaders have drawnire for their criticism of the judiciary.
Multiple petitions have been filed in different courts against themaccusing of contempt of court.
In January, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had accepted a contempt of courtpetition against Sharif and his daughter Maryam for making speechescritical of the judiciary.