Islamabad High Court dismisses Shireen Mazari's 'tractor trolley' petition

PTI leader wanted defence minister disqualified over his remarks

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's Shireen Mazari seeking the disqualification of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif over his remarks during a National Assembly session in June.

During a debate in the House on June 8, Asif had pointed towards Mazari and said, “someone make this tractor trolley keep quiet.” The minister then went on to ask the PTI leader to transform her “masculine voice into a more feminine one.”

Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC dismissed the petition as non-maintainable after hearing arguments from Mazari's counsel Barrister Shoaib Razzaq. The court had directed Mazari's counsel to argue over how a matter related to National Assembly proceedings could be taken up by the court.

In his remarks, Justice Minallah asked if the PTI, being one of the largest political parties, took any action following the incident. Did the party make any efforts to table a bill in this regard, he said, adding if the petitioner had approached police for the registration of a case against Asif.



The judge also inquired as to what action had been taken when the petitioner was not satisfied with how the matter was dealt inside the Parliament. He added that court could not interfere in such matters keeping in view Article 69 (courts not to inquire into the proceedings of Parliament) of the Constitution as it provided parliamentary privilege to MNAs.

Earlier, Mazari had requested the court to direct the National Assembly speaker to initiate disciplinary action and refer the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan to disqualify the minister.

The law ministry, National Assembly speaker, federal minister for parliamentary affairs and Asif were cited as respondents in the petition. Razzaq had said that Asif made derogatory remarks against the petitioner, “which were a testament of a libertine,” during a National Assembly session on June 8.



The counsel stressed that the remarks were duly televised and watched around the globe by millions and remained available on social media. Razzaq had also said that the remarks are criminal in nature as Asif had defamed Mazari which comes under section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860. Asif had verbally harassed Mazari which created a hostile working environment for her and thus comes under The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, he had argued.