SHC dismisses petition seeking sedition case against Nawaz

Petitioner sought arrest and trial of deposed PM under Article 6

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday dismissed a petition, seeking the arrest and trial of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif under sedition laws.

A two-judge bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, stated that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain such matters or pass any order.

Dismissing the petition, the bench told the petitioner to approach the Supreme Court to seek remedy.

The petition was filed by Ameer Jahan alias Bisma Naureen, who requested the court to direct the federal authorities to arrest and try Nawaz under Article 6 of the Constitution. She named the disqualified PM, federal government functionaries and others as respondents.



The petitioner, who had appeared before the court in person, submitted that the former PM should be questioned over his contacts with Indian PM Narendra Modi, Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav as well as Indians employed at the Ramazan Sugar Mills, owned by him.

The petitioner requested the court that the deposed PM should be detained and his custody be handed over to the army to investigate these issues.

She also requested the court to investigate Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and cabinet ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khawaja Asif and others “over their roles as facilitators”.

The petitioner asked the court to order the formation of a joint investigation team “to probe the Sharif brothers over their links with Indians”.

She requested the court to issue an order directing the federal authorities concerned to “register a case under Article 6 of the Constitution against the former PM and his facilitators on charges of sedition”.