SC took up Geo’s petition but not ours: SIC

Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza has said that his council moved the Supreme Court for registration of a blasphemy case against Geo TV on May 17 – but the case has yet to be fixed for hearing. Surprisingly, however, Geo TV’s petition was immediately taken up, Raza said while speaking in anchor Mubashir Luqman’s talk show on a private TV channel.

In the same show, businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedi said that Geo TV maligned the armed forces and aired blasphemous content – still its case was immediately taken up for hearing. He added that Justice Jawwad S Khawaja is a relative of Mir Shakilur Rehman, the chief executive of Geo/Jang Group, therefore he should have not heard the case.

They have already struck a deal and Geo and government are quite hopeful that the apex court would rule in their favour, Dhedi said. He added that the past one year broadcast of Geo TV should be reviewed.

He alleged Adil Jilani, with Geo’s help, concocted scandals, which were taken up by the SC. However, when Transparency International (TI) wrote against Mir Shakil’s relative Jahangir Siddiqi, Geo started a campaign against it.

Dhedi alleged that Siddiqi was involved in an Rs100 billion scam.

“When there were cases against JS Group in the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Mir Shakil called me and asked me to use my influence on one of my friends who was SECP’s chairman at that time to get the cases dropped,” he claimed.

Dhedi alleged that Mir Shakil even threatened him that if he did not oblige him he [Mir Shakil] could do anything as he had the power to topple governments and get sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reinstated.

Dhedi further alleged that Mir Shakil was a tax evader who was getting tax exemptions on the basis of forged documents. In this connection, he added, he was ready to testify in any court of law.

Former PPP senator Faisal Raza Abidi said nothing could be a greater treason than to vilifying the armed forces for nine hours. “However, people should not expect justice from the government, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and PCO judges,” he added.

He alleged that Geo TV was the biggest supporter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The channel, he said, was promoting in Pakistan the culture of a country with which there was a possibility of war on the issue of water.

Journalist Sabir Shakir said it was not possible to take up individual petitions for hearing within a day.

“Article 184 clearly states that in case of public interest, one can directly approach the Supreme Court. However in Geo’s case, a petition was filed in a secret manner. Prior to it, meetings were arranged with Akram Sheikh, who has developed a reputation of fighting cases against the army and ISI,” he added. He alleged that Justice Jawwad S Khawaja had a grudge against the army and security forces.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2014.