ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed a petition filed against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Senator Ali Zafar’s report that reportedly ‘absolved’ PTI’s estranged leader Jahangir Khan Tareen in the sugar scam.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah also imposed a fine on this petitioner as well as on another “habitual petitioner” who was seeking a directive for the federal government to wage a “jihad against Israel”.

In the first instance, the petitioner, namely Farhad Shahid Orakzai, asserted that he was aggrieved because the prime minister had asked Senator Zafar to hold an inquiry regarding registration of three criminal cases by the Federal Investigation Agency against Mr Tareen, a former general secretary of the PTI.

The court observed that the petitioner was seeking a directive against a political decision taken by the head of a political party. In paragraph 2 of his petition, the petitioner had himself acknowledged that his grievance was regarding a “political initiative”, the court noted.

The prayer sought in the petition was also a misconceived one as the petitioner did not refer to any official business nor order/directive of the federal government, the court said.

IHC Chief Justice termed the petition an attempt to hinder the administration of justice. Subsequently, the court dismissed the petition and imposed a cost of Rs25,000 on the petitioner for consuming the valuable time solely meant for adjudicating litigation relating to bona fide litigants. The said amount would be disbursed to counsel who are appointed by the court to represent deserving prisoners.

Case against Israel

In another case, the IHC noted that one Bisma Nor­een, a resident of Karachi, had been filing petitions before the court. She had sought a directive for the federal government to wage a jihad against Israel.

“The petitions filed by her have invariably been found not to be justiciable under Article 199 of the Consti­tu­tion of the Islamic Repub­lic of Pakistan, 1973,” the court ruled, adding that the petition in hand also pertained to matters which fell within the ambit of policies relating to foreign affairs of the state.

The court observed that the “petition in hand is definitely frivolous and does not disclose any genuine and bona fide grievance relating to violation of fundamental rights”. Justice Minallah also noted: “It appears that the petitioner is a habitual litigator regarding issues which are political or relate to policies of the state.”

Subsequently, the court imposed a fine of Rs25,000 on the petitioner.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2021