KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Mithadar SHO on a contempt of court application for allegedly not complying with the court’s order to record the statement of a Pakistan Peoples Party leader, who had approached the court to get an FIR registered against Federal Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda.

Additional sessions judge (South) Ghulam Murtaza Baloch directed the Mithadar SHO to submit a reply/report regarding the matter within three days and fixed the matter on Feb 19.

On Tuesday, PPP advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhail moved an application under sections 3 and 4 of the Contempt of Court Act seeking action against the Mithadar SHO for allegedly not complying with the court’s directives passed on Jan 31.

The applicant said that while disposing of his earlier application, the court had directed the SHO to record his statement and registrar an FIR against the federal minister under Section 154 or 155 of the Criminal Procedure Code if a cognizable or non-cognizable offence was made.

In his application, Mr Mandokhail had said that Mr Vawda had used non-parliamentary language against the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-N leadership during a talk show on a private television channel on Jan 14. During the show, the minister put a boot on the table on camera, criticising the opposition parties for voting in favour of the army chief’s tenure extension.

The applicant had stated that the PTI leader’s allegation that the PPP voted in favour of the extension was ‘baseless’. He argued that the PTI leader violated the sanctity of the armed forces as well as the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2020