Ex-chief justice's party files petition against Nawaz Sharif in SC

Islamabad, Oct 4: Pakistan's former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's party filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking action against Nawaz Sharif for his "criticism of the judges and judiciary" after his ouster as the prime minister in the Panama Papers case.

The petition filed by 68-year-old Chaudhry's Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party vice president Ahsanul Din Sheikh said Sharif has not accepted the apex court's verdict and has been criticising it in his speeches. It said the 67-year-old former prime minister has been "passing remarks against the judges and the judicial system."

"Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman Absar Alam has failed to do his duty and thus, the court should hold him and Nawaz Sharif in contempt," the petition said. A five-member Supreme Court bench on July 28 disqualified Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the prime minister to quit for the record third time. Since then, the PML-N chief has been raising questions against the verdict in public gatherings.

In one of his public speeches, Sharif had said the people's vote had been trampled upon as millions of people elected a leader and a couple of people or five judges disgraced and sent him home.

Chaudhry had launched his political party in 2015, saying the party would welcome only non-corrupt people. He was appointed 18th chief justice of Pakistan by then president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf in June 2005. In 2007, Musharraf asked Chaudhry to resign, but he refused and the conflict between the two led to the latter’s suspension in November 2007. Chaudhry was reinstated in March 2009 and retired in December 2013.

PTI