LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has been asked to initiate contempt proceedings against Maryam Nawaz, daughter of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for issuing ‘outrageous’ statements against judges of the Supreme Court.

Through a civil miscellaneous application moved in a pending case against Mr Sharif’s alleged anti-judiciary speeches, Advocate Azhar Siddique states that Ms Maryam since commencement of trial in an accountability court started attacking the judiciary.

He pleads that Ms Maryam has been making outrageous statements against Supreme Court judges and trying to defame the institution, which amounts to committing contempt of court. The lawyer states it is the duty of the federal and provincial governments to respect the judiciary and other institutions and to uphold respect, dignity and independence of the judiciary through process of law.

He says the judiciary has jurisdiction over all issues of judicial nature and exclusive authority to decide whether an issue submitted for decision was political or non-political. He argues that there should not be any inappropriate or unwarranted interference in the judicial process, nor judicial decisions or observations passed by the courts could be subjected to criticism and maneuvering on the media, as Ms Maryam has been doing.

The petitioner-lawyer asks the court to issue a notice to the respondent under contempt of court charges and also punish her under the law.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2017