AJK Supreme Court seals fate of former PM

The apex court of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has rejected former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas’s request to suspend the order of the region’s high court, disqualifying him for contempt of court.

The AJK High Court on April 11 disqualified prime minister Ilyas as a member of the AJK legislative assembly, barring him from holding any public office for two years.

Ilyas, who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had recently criticized the region’s judiciary for interfering with the domain of the executive through stay orders.

He had claimed that a multimillion Saudi-funded education project was incomplete due to a court order. Ilyas had also spoken against the court orders to reopen tobacco factories that were involved in tax evasion worth billions of rupees.

Ilyas later approached the AJK Supreme Court whose full bench, led by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, and comprising Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Khawaja Muhammad Nasim, heard his appeal.

In his miscellaneous plea, the former premier asked the court to stay the implementation of the AJK High Court's order. During the hearing, the AJK chief justice noted that the former prime minister had not apologised for his remarks. “He [only] said he apologises if there was any contempt of court."

He said the politician did not respect the parliament or the prime minister's office.
"The former prime minister says he will remove judges but he can't even expel a peon without following the official procedure," he noted.

Ilyas' counsel, Advocate Raziq Khan, said his client had not been given the opportunity to clarify his statements. CJ Akram, however, observed that Ilyas had admitted that he had made those statements against the judiciary.

"He admitted in court that he made those contemptuous remarks. When the person admits that he said those words and that those words were contemptuous, what options does the court have?" he asked.

The court later rejected Ilyas' plea to stay the high court's order. It will, however, continue to hear his appeal against the disqualification decision.