PoK ‘PM’ Sardar Tanveer Ilyas disqualified by court for contempt

Islamabad, April 11 (PTI) Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s “Prime Minister” Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was on Tuesday disqualified by a full court bench of the region’s High Court from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt of court, in a major setback to former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The decision by a full bench, led by Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, comes after the superior courts of the region separately served notices to Ilyas to explain his “derogatory remarks about the superior judiciary in his speeches at public meetings”, Geo News reported.

Speaking at a function in Islamabad last week, Ilyas indirectly blamed the judiciary for affecting the functioning of his government and interfering in the domain of the executive through the grant of stay orders, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Chaudhry Khalid Rasheed on Tuesday read out the judgment of the full bench, sentencing Ilyas till the rising of the court, the shortest sentence given to someone.

“Ilyas has directly threatened the superior judiciary and the language of his speech at a public meeting is highly derogatory, improper and indecently worded,” according to the court order.

Commenting on the verdict, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that it is important to respect the decisions of the court as the country cannot run by destroying the judicial system.

Chaudhry urged Ilyas to apologise and expressed the hope that he would be given relief by the apex court. He also said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should learn a lesson from the court’s decision.

Ilyas, the current president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, PoK chapter, was elected as the PoK “prime minister” in April last year.