IHC seeks argument on maintainability of Mazari’s petition

Khawaja Asif’s remarks

ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here Thursday while hearing in the writ petition of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) central information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari directed her counsel to argue that whether or not a court could interfere into the parliamentary matters.

Dr Mazari filed this writ petition against alleged unethical remarks of Khawaja Asif during a parliamentary session. The IHC bench directed her counsel to argue regarding maintainability of the matter on the next date of hearing. Dr Mazari’s counsel Barrister Shoaib Razzaq argued that this is a case of defamation as Khawaja Asif had targeted the person of his client.

IHC bench said that a high court could interfere in a matter regarding violation of basic human rights but whether it could interfere in parliamentary affairs is a question for the counsel to address, IHC bench said. The case will be taken up next week.

Dr Mazari in her petition alleged that on June 8, 2016 during a scheduled National Assembly session, PML-N federal minister Khawaja Asif made derogatory, defamatory, unwarranted and ill-founded remarks against her, which were a testament of a libertine.

She cited Federal Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Defence, Water & Power Khawaja Asif, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs through its Federal Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed as respondents.

Petitioner contended that the said remarks were duly televised and watched around the globe by millions of people and were still available on certain social media forums. She contended that she sent a legal notice to Khawaja Asif in whose reply he insulted her once again by eloquently explaining the attributes of a “Tractor Trolley” and as to how the said object emits noises and compared it to the noises which he was allegedly hearing on the impugned day in the National Assembly.