Petition against Hamid Mir, being not maintainable, returned

LAHORE: The Registrar Office (RO) of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday returned a petition to a lawyer/petitioner who sought a direction to the Ministry of Interior to initiate treason proceedings against journalist Hamid Mir.

Putting an objection on the maintainability of the petition, the Office said the petitioner needed to approach the first forum for remedy available in the law. Sardar Farrukh Mushtaq, a lawyer by profession, filed the petition through Advocate Nadeem Sarwar saying the journalist delivered a hatred speech containing ‘derogatory’ remarks and allegations against the disciplined institution of the country.

The lawyer contended that the ‘derogatory’ remarks in the speech of the journalist were pertinent to common violation but the federal government did not take due action under the law. He said the conduct of the respondent journalist was contempt of society and its institutions working under the government. He said the government failed to take action under Section 124 of Pakistan Penal Code against the journalist. The petitioner asked the court to order the interior ministry to lodge a complaint against Mir and initiate further proceedings under the treason charge.