To bid or not bid the chief justice farewell
TV anchor seeks complete ban on screening of Indian films, dramas.
SCBA vice president Rana Naeem Sarwar, speaking on behalf of the bar’s executive committee, announced a farewell ceremony for the outgoing chief justice. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association is divided over whether or not to host a farewell for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Last week, SCBA vice president Rana Naeem Sarwar, speaking on behalf of the bar’s executive committee, announced a farewell ceremony for the outgoing chief justice.
SCBA secretary Asif Mahmood Cheema later issued Sarwar a show cause notice for that. The secretary said the executive body had decided not to throw a farewell dinner or lunch to register its protest against the “brutal torture of lawyers at the Supreme Court in Islamabad”.
The notice says the vice president is not empowered to take such decisions on behalf of the executive body. Sarwar has committed gross misconduct by assuming powers of the entire body, it reads. The secretary has asked Sarwar to reply to the notice by December 9. If he doesn’t, ex parte (one sided) action could be taken against him including suspension of membership, the notice concluded.
Indian Films
The Lahore High Court, last week, heard three cases regarding the exhibition of Indian movies.
The first, a contempt of court petition against the Pakistan Film Censor Board chairman, had been pending. The chairman had submitted a reply stating that the board had stopped the exhibition of smuggled Indian films. The court ordered the petitioner, a TV anchor, and respondents to present their arguments at the next hearing.
The same TV anchor, last week, filed another petition seeking directions to the government to ban the exhibition of all Indian films, plays, advertisements, stage shows, reality shows and other TV programmes in Pakistan.
A petition filed by film importers sought permission from the Lahore High Court to exhibit Indian film Rambo Rajkumar in Pakistan. Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan directed the Attorney General of Pakistan to check with Pakistan’s embassy in India whether the film was shot in India or UK as is claimed.
Voter verification
The LHC sought the attorney general’s assistance on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s National Assembly member Malik Riaz challenging an election tribunal’s directions to the NADRA to verify voters in NA-118 through thumb impressions. The tribunal had ordered the verification on a petition filed by the opposing candidate from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Pakistan.
VIP culture
A judge of the LHC referred Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s petition against the lifestyles of political and bureaucratic elite to the chief justice to fix it before a full bench. The petitioner said public functionaries lived “like kings and princes in palatial government houses” and did not follow the Holy Prophet’s (peace be upon him) sunnah of austerity.
Bagram prisoners
Counsel for the six Pakistani citizens, released from Bagram jail and later detained by Pakistani authorities, told the Lahore High Court last week that Peshawar Central Jail authorities, in compliance with court orders, had allowed the prisoners to meet their families and lawyers.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2013.
The executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association is divided over whether or not to host a farewell for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Last week, SCBA vice president Rana Naeem Sarwar, speaking on behalf of the bar’s executive committee, announced a farewell ceremony for the outgoing chief justice.
SCBA secretary Asif Mahmood Cheema later issued Sarwar a show cause notice for that. The secretary said the executive body had decided not to throw a farewell dinner or lunch to register its protest against the “brutal torture of lawyers at the Supreme Court in Islamabad”.
The notice says the vice president is not empowered to take such decisions on behalf of the executive body. Sarwar has committed gross misconduct by assuming powers of the entire body, it reads. The secretary has asked Sarwar to reply to the notice by December 9. If he doesn’t, ex parte (one sided) action could be taken against him including suspension of membership, the notice concluded.
Indian Films
The Lahore High Court, last week, heard three cases regarding the exhibition of Indian movies.
The first, a contempt of court petition against the Pakistan Film Censor Board chairman, had been pending. The chairman had submitted a reply stating that the board had stopped the exhibition of smuggled Indian films. The court ordered the petitioner, a TV anchor, and respondents to present their arguments at the next hearing.
The same TV anchor, last week, filed another petition seeking directions to the government to ban the exhibition of all Indian films, plays, advertisements, stage shows, reality shows and other TV programmes in Pakistan.
A petition filed by film importers sought permission from the Lahore High Court to exhibit Indian film Rambo Rajkumar in Pakistan. Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan directed the Attorney General of Pakistan to check with Pakistan’s embassy in India whether the film was shot in India or UK as is claimed.
Voter verification
The LHC sought the attorney general’s assistance on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s National Assembly member Malik Riaz challenging an election tribunal’s directions to the NADRA to verify voters in NA-118 through thumb impressions. The tribunal had ordered the verification on a petition filed by the opposing candidate from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Pakistan.
VIP culture
A judge of the LHC referred Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s petition against the lifestyles of political and bureaucratic elite to the chief justice to fix it before a full bench. The petitioner said public functionaries lived “like kings and princes in palatial government houses” and did not follow the Holy Prophet’s (peace be upon him) sunnah of austerity.
Bagram prisoners
Counsel for the six Pakistani citizens, released from Bagram jail and later detained by Pakistani authorities, told the Lahore High Court last week that Peshawar Central Jail authorities, in compliance with court orders, had allowed the prisoners to meet their families and lawyers.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2013.