LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), headed by Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, ordered the names of six Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members of Kasur district, two of them members of national and provincial assemblies, to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) in a case involving anti-judiciary remarks.

The LHC has told the police to complete their investigation and submit a report on the implementation of its order at the next hearing on May 7.

MNA Sheikh Waseem Akhtar, MPA Naeem Safdar, Kasur Municipal Committee chairman Ayaz Khan and vice chairman Ahmed Latif appeared before the court on Friday, in response to a writ petition filed by Kasur District Bar Association president Mirza Naseemul Hassan. The DBA president has accused the Kasur parliamentarians and local government leaders of taking out a protest rally as part of a planned conspiracy against the judiciary, and requested the court to disqualify them from holding public office.

Kasur Bar president seeks disqualification of parliamentarians over anti-judiciary remarks

The four elected representatives, as well as Baitul Maal chairman Nasir Ahmed and Kasur market committee chairman Jamil Khan, are accused of organising a rally in Kasur in which the participants had shouted slogans against the judiciary. The police told the court that Mr Khan and Mr Ahmed were on the run, but added that they were looking for them.

The police raided various places in Kasur on Thursday, looking for PML-N office-bearers and workers, who appear to have gone under cover. The LHC had ordered the police to make sure that all those nominated in the FIR would be brought before the court on Friday.

Kasur police have also put up notices in front of the houses of the nominated suspects to ensure their arrest. A police official requesting anonymity told Dawn that the police were also conducting raids outside of the district.

Of those nominated in the FIR, MNA Akhtar, MPA Safdar, and four others, all belonging to the ruling party, had secured protective bail from the Balochistan High Court a few days ago. Kasur DPO Zahid Nawaz Marwat told the LHC that they could not arrest them because of that. The court asked the DPO to check if relevant sections of the cyber crime law could be added to the FIR, in which case it would have to be referred to the Federal Investigation Agency.

On April 13, scores of PML-N workers gathered at MNA Akhtar’s outhouse on Shahbaz Khan Road for a protest rally that ended at Kashmir Chowk. The protesters blocked a road and burned tyres near Kashmir Chowk, but they also shouted anti-judiciary and anti-establishment slogans to lodge their protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The police registered two FIRs on the matter — one filed by police official Abdul Rasheed and the other by retired Major Habibur Rehman.

According to the FIRs, the nominated suspects had blocked Ferozepur Road near Kashmir Chowk and used abusive language against the chief justice of Pakistan and sensitive agencies. The complainants claimed that they had a video recording that proved their allegations.

Separately, a three-member bench of the LHC, also led by Justice Naqvi, sought a reply from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) over measures taken to stop people from posting anti-judiciary content on social media.

At the hearing on Friday, the bench issued notices to the PTA and the MoIT on a petition which stated that an anti-judiciary campaign was being run on social media and that constituted contempt of court. The petitioner claimed that state institutions had not taken any measures to block such material on social media.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Azhar Siddique said that the court should direct the authorities to stop allowing anti-judiciary material to be uploaded onto social media, and have existing material removed.

The LHC has sought replies from the PTA and MoIT at the next hearing on May 7.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2018