ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: The Supreme Court was requested on Thursday to arraign PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif in contempt proceeding for scandalising the apex court by not disclosing the name of a person who had conveyed an offer that if he stopped raising the issue of additional marks given to a daughter of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, he could get a favourable judgment in a case relating to his and Shahbaz Sharif’s disqualification.

Mr Sharif disclosed on Wednesday that the offer had been made to him but did not name the person who had conveyed the message.

“This court is duty bound to discover the person (who approached Nawaz Sharif) in the first instance before it determines any other question of fact of law,” said a contempt of court petition filed by one Shahid Orakzai.Mr Sharif and the federal government are respondents in the petition.

The petitioner requested the court to immediately initiate contempt proceedings against the PML-N chief because he chose not to identify the person nor did he state whether the person was in the service of Pakistan or a person excluded from the service of Pakistan as elaborated in Article 260 of the Constitution.

“The respondent’s (Mr Sharif) main emphasis was on the proposed bargain (which he publicly rejected) than the official capacity of the communicator or the influence he allegedly exercised on the court,” the petition alleged.

It said: “No contempt proceedings will lie against Nawaz Sharif if he identifies the person who is painting the apex court as a bargain centre or exchange. Without identifying the person, the respondent is surely scandalising the court and committing contempt of the court.”

The petition alleged that Nawaz Sharif had earlier struck deals suiting his convenience and this court had examined at least one such deal brokered by some foreigners between him and former president Pervez Musharraf.

“This court also failed to enforce the decision of its seven-member bench endorsing Nawaz Sharif’s right to enter Pakistan and end his exile. Consequently, Mr Sharif managed his entry allegedly through back-stage influence of a king in the Middle East,” it said.

Meanwhile, a three-member bench comprising Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, Justice

M. Javed Buttar and Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf will hear on Friday a petition filed by former chairman of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Commodore (retd) Shamshad.