Islamabad (Staff Report): The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday clarified that the Lahore High Court (LHC) did not ban former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz from delivering speeches.
Earlier the day, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) took suo motu notice of reports that the LHC, on Monday, had banned the transmission of anti-judiciary speeches by Nawaz, Maryam and other Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leaders.
The CJP Mian Saqib Nisar summoned a copy of the LHC verdict.
The bench also issued a notice to PEMRA, instructing the regulatory body to present their point of view on the matter. The hearing is scheduled for 1 pm today.
As the hearing resumed later in the afternoon, the court expressed displeasure at the media coverage of the LHC order, with Justice Ijazul Ahsan terming it fake news.
The chief justice remarked that nowhere does it say in the LHC order that Nawaz and Maryam’s speeches have been banned.
The bench observed that the high court has only ordered PEMRA to enforce the law, adding that the court cannot curtail fundamental rights.
The chief justice asserted that the court never stopped anyone from healthy criticism.
