The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court returned on Wednesday, a petition filed by Sardar Tanveer Ilyas against a high court order disqualifying him as the region’s prime minister.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf faced a major setback as the AJK High Court disposed of Ilyas as the prime minister, in a decision that made him the first AJK premier to be disqualified in a contempt of court case.
However, Ilyas challenged the decision in the AJK top court via a plea that mentioned him as the “AJK prime minister”. The plea, however, was returned by the court’s registrar office, with objections over Ilyas’s title.
Later, AJK Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram censured the petitioner’s lawyers for mentioning Ilyas as the “current prime minister”.
“Why didn’t you comply when the registrar had raised objections,” he asked.
At this, Ilyas’s lawyer requested the court to consider it written “former prime minister”.
“How could we read it as ‘former’. You are a senior lawyer and this is Supreme Court [of AJK],” the justice remarked.
He observed that the high court’s ruling will be maintained till the top court takes action and Ilyas would be considered a former prime minister.
The court then directed the lawyers to file new plea, saying that the court will see when it has to take it up. After this, the lawyers left for removing the objections imposed on the plea.
Before the hearing, Ilyas’s lawyer Sardar Raziq Khan said while talking to media that there was a proper procedure to disqualify a premier in the Constitution.
“Election Commission cannot disqualify a prime minister without following [that] procedure,” the lawyer said.
He further stated that the maximum penalty for a contempt of court is six months.
“Sardar Tanveer Ilyas is still the prime minister of AJK,” Khan said terming the notification disqualifying Ilyas as “unconstitutional”.
AJK High Court disqualifies Ilyas
Tuesday’s decision of the high court came after Ilyas was summoned to AJK’s Supreme Court and High Court for using a “threatening tone” in one of his speeches.
A full bench, led by Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, conducted the hearing of the case. During the hearing, the clips featuring Ilyas were played.
Ilyas gave an unconditional apology to the court, saying “I apologise unconditionally if any of my words hurt the judge.”
But the AJK premier was sentenced till the rising of the court.__The Nation
