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Tag: IHC

  • Mohsin Baig case: Court says FIA misused its power, issues show-cause notice

    Mohsin Baig case: Court says FIA misused its power, issues show-cause notice

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued show-cause notice to the Director of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime wing, Babar Bakht Qureshi, on Monday for misusing FIA’s powers in the arrest case of journalist Mohsin Jamil Baig.

    The FIA cybercrime wing and the police arrested and raided Daily Jinnah and Online news agency Editor Mohsin Baig’s house. He was accused of initiating a debate on News One’s programme ‘G for Gharidah’. He made some controversial references towards Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and Minister for Communication Murad Saeed.

    IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah asked, “Why should we not register contempt of court case against the FIA? Do they think they are above the law?”

    During the hearing, Justice Minallah grilled the FIA director, reminding him that the court had told the agency to not make arrests. “This court will take action against you. Your job is to protect people and not to restore the reputation of an elite person.”

    Justice Minallah also posed some questions related to the arrest. He asked Qureshi that when there were four people in the programme, why only Baig was arrested.

    Justice Minallah further said that the agency has always abused its authority, adding that the court will not allow the FIA to infringe on anyone’s fundamental rights.

    When asked about PM Khan’s ex-wife Reham Khan’s book and which reference was given by Baig in the show. Additional Attorney General Qasim Wadood, who was present before the court, replied that he had not read the book.

    “Does everyone know what is written in the book?”, CJ asked.

    Justice Minallah said that this court has repeatedly said that you should be careful but the message being given is that there is no freedom of expression.

    However, the Director of FIA continued his argument that the reference to the book is defamatory and added, “We must discourage obscenity.”

    CJ Minallah stated that the biggest obscenity is not respecting the constitution, adding that prohibition is an abuse of power.

    Responding to contempt of court notice, Quershi pleaded to the CJ, saying we are like your children, have mercy. To which the CJ responded, “You are not my child and I am not your father.”

    Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned and Justice Minallah asked Qureshi to submit his response. The court also summoned Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan in the next hearing on February 24. Previously, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) approved the three-day remand of journalist Mohsin Baig.

  • Monal restaurant management breaks closure seal to enter premises

    Monal restaurant management breaks closure seal to enter premises

    Monal, a restaurant in Islamabad, which was sealed through a court order, was broken into on Wednesday. Management of the restaurant, which included 70-80 employees, broke a padlock seal and entered the premises of the site on February 16, reports Samaa News.

    Employees reached the site in the morning and asked the Wildlife department workers not to intervene.

    While talking to Samaa News, a Wildlife management board representative, monitoring the closure, said, “They told us that the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the restaurant and allowed them to resume activities.”

    The authorities asked restaurant employees to produce a court order but they refused and broke the padlock seal into pieces.

    After breaking into the restaurant, employees started adjusting seats and tables.

    According to the representative, they had never stopped the restaurant staff to look after their items which were left there and we cooperated with them fully.

    On January 11, Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered Islamabad’s Chief Commissioner to seal the Monal Restaurant in Margalla Hills National Park.

  • Court reserves decision on PTI’s Faisal Vawda’s appeal against lifetime disqualification

    Court reserves decision on PTI’s Faisal Vawda’s appeal against lifetime disqualification

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its decision on the maintainability of an application filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Faisal Vawda against his lifetime disqualification from parliament, reports Dawn.

    Last week, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Vawda as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and ordered him to withdraw the notification appointing him as senator for concealing his dual nationality.

    Later, the PTI leader approached the IHC. In his appeal, he stated that Section 8C of the Elections Act, 2017 allowed the ECP to conduct an election but did not empower it to disqualify a candidate. According to him, the commission was directed by the court to “probe the issue of falsity or otherwise of the affidavit expeditiously as per a judgment of the Supreme Court (SC)”.

    The commission said Vawda had submitted a “false affidavit” when submitting nomination papers. However, Vawda’s lawyer, Wasim Sajjad argued in the court that his client [Vawda] did not submit a false affidavit.

    Sajjad maintained that Vawda cancelled his United States (US) passport and acquired a certificate from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and said that he [Vawda] is only a Pakistani citizen.

    Vawda secured the National Assembly seat (NA-249) in July 2018 and got elected as a Senator last year.

    As per the commission, Vawda can approach the Supreme Court (SC) against its verdict.

  • Court allows PML-N’s Khawaja Asif to cross-examine PM Khan

    Court allows PML-N’s Khawaja Asif to cross-examine PM Khan

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Khawaja Asif to cross-examine Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan with reference to the premier’s defamation case against him.

    During the hearing, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, the civil court directed to conclude the proceedings within two months, states Dawn.

    Barrister Haider Rasool, the counsel for Asif argued that since 2012 his client had sought adjournment 28 times while the court adjourned the proceedings on PM’s request on nearly 50 occasions.

    The court observed that it was the defendant’s [Khawaja] right to cross-examine the PM.

    Earlier this year, the high court had sought a reply from the premier.

    Back in 2012, the premier had filed the defamation suit against Asif for recovery of Rs10 billion as the latter at a press conference levelled allegations about misappropriation of funds and money laundering through the Shaukat Khanam funds.

  • Islamabad High Court orders closure of all sheesha cafes in the city

    Islamabad High Court orders closure of all sheesha cafes in the city

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the local administration to shut down all sheesha cafes in the federal city with immediate action and submit a progress report to the court as well.

    The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) along with the Islamabad administration and police have mobilised their resources to initiate the crackdown on all sheesha cafes operating in Islamabad.

    The complete ban on sheesha was announced across the country led by the Supreme Court previously in 2015 but in the following year, the bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the sale and import of sheesha and tobacco smoking items despite the ban from the apex court.

    This time the court emphasised that action must be louder than words.

    The court also asked the advocate generals from the provincial governments about the implementation of previous orders regarding the ban on sheesha smoking in public spaces.

  • Want a hotshot space in jail? Report reveals bribery makes influential prisoners live easy

    Want a hotshot space in jail? Report reveals bribery makes influential prisoners live easy

    It has been revealed in a report that the powerful and rich class in prison are bribing guards for special perks and facilities.

    A team led by Director-General (DG) Human Rights visited the jails and submitted its report to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    The report said that prison officials acknowledge that they are under intense political pressure. It has also been revealed that influential prisoners from Jhelum and Mianwali are being kept in Adiala Jail due to pressure from the Home Department. The report also revealed that inmates of Bhakkar Jail had provided evidence of money transfer to jail authorities.

    According to the report, the brother of one of the prisoners gave evidence of giving one lakh 40,000 to a jail guard.

    The report further suggests that prison officials are not aware of basic human rights. The prison meeting registers also indicate discrimination against inmates for meeting times and frequencies.

    The report also states that when senior police and prison officials are shown around the premises, not all that is shown and told is true. The report recommends training in human rights for prison officials.

  • Court wants forensic audit firms to analyse CJ Saqib Nisar’s alleged audio leak

    Court wants forensic audit firms to analyse CJ Saqib Nisar’s alleged audio leak

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reportedly directed the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan and the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) to submit the names of credible forensic audit firms for a forensic analysis of the alleged audio of former Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Saqib Nasir, reports Dawn.

    Justice Athar Minallah headed the hearing of a petition filed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) Sindh High Court Bar Association. The association argued that it was not known who Nisar was allegedly talking to and whether the other person was even a judge or not and requested the court to set up an inquiry commission.

    They further argued that Journalist Ahmad Noorani’s story on Saqib Nisar’s audio clip has not been edited as per the forensic report of the audio clip. To this, the justice said that the source is not reliable.

    Justice Minallah asked who would bear the cost of this audio clip forensic audit?

    The President of SHCBA replied that the Ministry of Law can bear the cost, to which the IHC CJ inquired why the taxpayers’ money should be spent on it.

    “Suggest the name of any authoritative forensic agency to do a forensic audit of this audio clip,” Justice said.

    The court adjourned the hearing till January 28.

  • Court declares NDMA responsible for Murree tragedy

    Court declares NDMA responsible for Murree tragedy

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) responsible for the Murree tragedy which killed 23 people, including children due to carbon monoxide poisonous gas in their cars.

    The NDMA Chairman is Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz since 2020.

    During the hearing, the court asked the NDMA whether a letter had been written to the Opposition leader to call a meeting of the commission. At this, the official said the Opposition leader had not asked them to call a meeting, reports Geo News.

    “You have failed, it was your responsibility to call a meeting, you were responsible for providing a national management plan to the area,” the justice told the management member.

    Justice Minallah said that had the NDMA ensured that everyone followed the law, such incidents would not have happened.

    It is also revealed that NDMA held its last meeting on March 28, 2018. To this court chief Justice Athar Minallah questioned that, “It is a powerful body. How come no meeting took place since 2018.”

    The court ordered Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to call a meeting of the commission next week and directed the NDMA member to submit a report on the incident by next Friday.

    The hearing was called because of a petition by Hammad Abbasi, a Murree resident. According to him, on their way to Murree neither were they stopped and nor were they warned of the danger.

  • Contempt of court against Rana Shamim and journalists in affidavit case

    Contempt of court against Rana Shamim and journalists in affidavit case

    Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC), Athar Minallah has observed that former chief judge Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim and journalists appeared to have committed contempt of court.

    The journalists include editor-in-Chief of the Jang Media Group Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, and senior journalists Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghauri in connection with a news report about an affidavit that accused former Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of trying to delay the release from prison of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

    The court said the news report [in The News] was published without taking reasonable care.

    Additionally, the IHC also appointed Attorney General (AG) for Pakistan Khalid Javed as the prosecutor in the case, reports Dawn.

    Editor Aamer Ghauri and reporter Ansar Abbasi argued that they had published the news report in the public interest. In reply, the order stated that freedom of expression did not apply to the cases pending in the courts.

    “It appears that the reporter had not sought any legal advice regarding the status of a copy of a leaked document in the form of an affidavit,” said the order.

    However, Shamim and others have been asked to appear in court on January 7 for prosecution in the contempt of court case.



  • ‘Shehbaz Sharif will be at the forefront of the race for the slot of PM after Nawaz Sharif’: Rana Sanaullah

    ‘Shehbaz Sharif will be at the forefront of the race for the slot of PM after Nawaz Sharif’: Rana Sanaullah

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday said that the PML-N leadership, including Shehbaz Sharif, had authorised the party supremo Nawaz Sharif to make all decisions for the party, including the selection for the prime minister’s candidacy slot in the general elections of 2023. Maryam was talking to journalists after attending the hearing of her appeal by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Avenfield Apartment reference on Tuesday.

    “Shehbaz Sharif is a fatherly figure, he is president of the PML-N, but the decision on his candidature is to be taken by the party leadership.”

    Her comments come after former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had announced that Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif will be PML-N’s candidate for prime minister in the general elections of 2023.

    “Shehbaz Sharif is our president and he will be our next candidate for prime minister,” said Khaqan.

    On the other hand, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah, while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, said that there is no doubt our workers chant slogans in the name of Nawaz Sharif.

    “If Nawaz Sharif is not available, or does not want to become prime minister then the senior-most member next to Mian Nawaz Sharif is Mian Shehbaz Sharif Sahab.”

    Rana Sanaullah while talking about the disqualification cases against Maryam Nawaz said that even if the cases against her end, Shehbaz Sharif will be at the forefront of the race.

    On being asked if Maryam Nawaz has political ambitions and will she support someone else in the race, Rana said that once a name is announced by the leadership, everyone will fully support the candidate.