Anti-judiciary campaign case: CJP distances himself from five-member bench

Pemra chairperson says a number of cases against actions taken by the authority are currently pending in high court


Our Correspondent July 29, 2016
Anwar Zaheer Jamali. PHOTO: EXPRESS TRIBUNE

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali distanced himself on Thursday from a larger bench which is hearing a case against a social media campaign aimed against the superior judiciary and its judges.

CJP Jamali declined to proceed with the case when it was taken up by a five-judge bench at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry. Later, a four-judge bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim was constituted.

The apex court had taken serious notice of a campaign maligning the superior judiciary and its judges during hearing of a petition filed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association seeking recovery of the son of SHC’s Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

The chairpersons of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority on Thursday submitted reports regarding actions taken against those behind the campaign.

Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali informed the bench that the issue with regarding the jurisdiction of PTA and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with regard to cybercrime was attended to by a Senate committee two days ago. The legislation on the issue is in progress, he added.

PTA Chairman Ismail Shah said the authority will introduce a cell to actively search objectionable content pertaining to the judiciary and report it to FIA.

Pemra chairperson Absar Alam, meanwhile, said a number of cases against actions taken by the authority are currently pending in high courts. He added that he will provide a list of such cases to the top court.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2016.

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