LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid said on Saturday the judges of the Islamabad High Court showed great courage by voicing against meddling in the justice system.

“I want to commend those judges who have raised the issue of interference in the judicial affairs,” she said in a handwritten statement given to the reporters at an anti- terrorism court.

She said justice could not prevail in Pakistan until the intervention in the courts was eliminated.

She alleged that the meddling was not only in the higher courts but was prevalent in every court of Punjab. If interference had not existed, individuals like Sana Javed and Aaliya Hamza of the PTI would not have been rearrested and sent to Sargodha jail, she said in the statement.

Dr Yasmin called Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz “Madam Ruthless” and held her responsible for ‘oppression’ against the women of Punjab.

She appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the ‘injustice’.

Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the incomplete election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate would be a disrespect to the parliament if conducted in its current form.

He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a unit of the federation and excluding it from the electoral process would have consequences.

He said completing representation of KP in the senate is the responsibility of the federal government and the election commission.

The incarcerated senator stated that ‘rigging’ on the reserved seats is a blunder of the ECP, which would have repercussions for the entire nation.

The PTI leaders were produced before the court for the hearing of a case of burning police vehicles near Rahat Bakery in the cantonment during the May 9 riots.

Judge Arshad Javed adjourned further hearing till April 24.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2024