AJK Supreme Court to take up appeal of ex-PM AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas against his conviction in contempt of court case tomorrow

MUZAFFARABAD, April 12 (SABAH): The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court will take up the appeal of former prime minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan against his conviction in contempt of court case by Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court tomorrow (Thursday). The full bench of the AJK Supreme Court will take up the application of Sardar Tanveer Ilays Khan.

Earlier on Wednesday the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court returned, a petition filed by Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan against a high court order disqualifying him as the region’s prime minister.

On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf faced a major setback as the AJK High Court disposed of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan as the prime minister, in a decision that made him the first AJK premier to be disqualified in a contempt of court case.

However, Ilyas challenged the decision in the AJK top court via a plea that mentioned him as the “AJK prime minister”. The plea, however, was returned by the court’s registrar office, with objections over Ilyas’s title.

Later, AJK Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram censured the petitioner’s lawyers for mentioning Ilyas as the “current prime minister”. “Why didn’t you comply when the registrar had raised objections,” he asked.

At this, Ilyas’s lawyer requested the court to consider it written “former prime minister”.

“How could we read it as ‘former’. You are a senior lawyer and this is Supreme Court [of AJK],” the justice remarked.

He observed that the high court’s ruling will be maintained till the top court takes action and Ilyas would be considered a former prime minister.

The court then directed the lawyers to file new plea, saying that the court will see when it has to take it up. After this, the lawyers left for removing the objections imposed on the plea.

Before the hearing, Ilyas’s lawyer Sardar Raziq Khan said while talking to media that there was a proper procedure to disqualify a premier in the Constitution.

“Election Commission cannot disqualify a prime minister without following [that] procedure,” the lawyer said.

He further stated that the maximum penalty for a contempt of court is six months.

“Sardar Tanveer Ilyas is still the prime minister of AJK,” Khan said terming the notification disqualifying Ilyas as “unconstitutional”.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan apologised both before the AJK SC and the high court, however, the latter rejected his apology and held him guilty of contempt.

Subsequently, Ilyas’ legal team filed an appeal in the AJK apex court today against his conviction.

However, SC Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram rejected the appeal saying that it was “incompetently worded”. He noted that the plea mentioned Ilyas as the prime minister even though the high court’s order was still holding ground. The judge has allowed Ilyas’ lawyers to file a fresh appeal in court.

Later in the day on Wednesday the lawyers of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas submitted fresh application, which has been fixed by the AJK Supreme Court for hearing tomorrow (Thursday).

Tuesday’s decision of the high court came after Ilyas was summoned to AJK’s Supreme Court and High Court for using a “threatening tone” in one of his speeches.

A full bench, led by Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, conducted the hearing of the case. During the hearing, the clips featuring Ilyas were played.

Ilyas gave an unconditional apology to the court, saying “I apologise unconditionally if any of my words hurt the judge.” But the AJK premier was sentenced till the rising of the court.

Meanwhile, in a late-night development, the office of AJK’s chief secretary on Tuesday issued a notification appointing Khawaja Farooq Ahmed as the interim prime minister of the region.

“The president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, in exercise of powers vested in him under sub-article (1) of Article 17 of the AJK Constitution, is pleased to call upon Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, the most senior minister, to perform functions of the Office of the Prime Minister until a new prime minister has been appointed and elected upon his office,” it said.

The notification was issued after a summary regarding the same was sent to the chief secretary by the AJK president.