PM AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas disqualified for contempt of court

In a major setback for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Tuesday disqualified Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for contempt of court, according to news.

The high court decision comes after Ilyas was summoned to AJK’s supreme and high courts for using a “threatening tone” in one of his speeches.

Earlier, PM Ilyas appeared in front of the Supreme Court, where he was greeted by PTI members.

The case was heard by a full bench led by Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja. The clips featuring the prime minister were shown during the hearing.

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AJK Prime Minister Ilyas apologised unconditionally to the court, saying, “I apologise unconditionally if any of my words offended the judge.”

The AJK premier was sentenced until the court rose.

The AJK High Court’s full bench summoned Ilyas today in response to a contempt notice issued in response to his speech at a public meeting.

A two-member bench issued an order on a newspaper clipping citing the prime minister’s speech, saying the decision was made in a meeting of the judges where the issue was discussed at length, who noted that the prime minister’s overall conduct was contemptuous.

The high court registrar was directed to serve a summons on the AJK prime minister, via his principal secretary, to appear in person before the court today and explain his position. The registrar had also directed that the matter be brought before the full bench.

Ilyas had previously criticised the courts’ issuance of stay orders, claiming that the practise was affecting the government’s performance. He added that the stay orders were a temporary order that had to be decided within days, but they lingered for years.