LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan and the advocate general of Punjab to decide maintainability of a petition seeking contempt proceedings against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and 13 federal and provincial ministers of the PML-N for their outburst against the Supreme Court following the disqualification verdict.

Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh was hearing the petition filed by Amaan Welfare Foundation President Amina Malik.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Azhar Siddique argued that Mr Sharif and his team had been committing sedition by trying to defame state institutions of judiciary and army. He alleged that the motive behind committing contempt was to influence the process of filing of reference(s) by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) before trial court against charges of corruption.

The counsel submitted that the respondents had not only committed contempt of court but also defamed judges of the Supreme Court besides criticising the institutions. He said every person including government functionaries was required to respect and obey orders of the courts with due dignity for the institution.

Advocate Siddique further said Mr Sharif and his team had been trying to incite people against the state institution which amounted to sedition. He asked the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the respondents for interfering and obstructing the process of the court and trying to scandalise the Supreme Court.

Justice Sheikh heard the initial arguments and issued pre-admission notices seeking assistance from the federal and provincial law officers to decide the maintainability of the petition.

The judge will resume hearing on Aug 25.

Other respondents include Foreign Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Information Maryam Aurangzeb, Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, Senator Pervez Rashid, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Talal Chaudhry, Maiza Hameed, Abid Sher Ali, Danyal Aziz and Asif Kirmani.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017