Islamabad HC approves hearing against Sharif, Maryam

Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan 29 (ANI): The Islamabad High Court has agreed to hear a contempt of court case against former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

According to the Express Tribune, Justice Amir Farooq approved the hearing the contempt of court case through a plea filed by petitioner Adnan Iqbal.

In the plea filed by Iqbal, it stated that after Sharif was disqualified as prime minister, he had started to speak negatively on courts. It also mentioned that he had uttered anti-judiciary comments at a rally at Kot Momin in Punjab province and at Punjab House in Lahore.

Maryam, on the other hand, criticised the country's judiciary.

The petitioner maintained that Sharif and Maryam's speeches amounted to a contempt of court, and therefore, a case should be registered against them.

This is not the first time the former Pakistan Prime Minister has been accused of passing anti-judiciary comments.

In September, a petition was filed by Makhdoom Niazi Inqalabi, stating that Sharif had committed "contempt of court" at a Lahore rally in August.

The petition added that Sharif had criticised the country's judiciary for colluding with vested interests.

The Pakistan Supreme Court had earlier disqualified Sharif as the prime minister, after an inquiry into the 2016 Panama Papers which linked his family to offshore companies.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, on July 28, had directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against Sharif and his three children.

He blamed the country's highest court for his removal from the office and stated that the evidence found against him in the Panama Paper leaks case was "false and imaginary". (ANI)