ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry alleged on Monday that attacking the judiciary, hurling accusations at judges and making videos to blackmail them was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) history.
Briefing media persons about the meeting of coalition partners with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Fawad said a “strange joke” was being circulated in the country about a judge, who claimed that when he was having tea with former chief justice Saqib Nisar, the CJP abruptly picked up the phone and instructed a high court judge not to grant Nawaz Sharif bail before the 2018 elections.
He said editorial check-in media was imperative and without confirmation or counter check, the publication (of unauthentic) news should be avoided in newspapers. Surprisingly, the newspaper did not check that the judge being mentioned in the story was not part of the bench, he added.
Deploring irresponsible attitude, he said a newspaper exhibited irresponsibility by flashing the news by mentioning the name of a judge in the headline.
He said the government welcomed the suo moto notice taken by the Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Justice Athar Minallah on the issue.
He said the press conference of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N senior leader Khawaja Asif, after the IHC CJ’s suo moto notice, was an attempt to scandalise the judiciary.
There was no need to hold a press conference after the suo moto notice, he added.
He urged the IHC to summon both Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khawaja Asif during the suo moto proceedings.
The coalition partners of PTI including the leadership of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Balochistan Awami Party, Mutahidda Quomi Movement (Pakistan), Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) had met Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed full confidence in his leadership.
The minister said reservations of coalition partners were removed and the government unanimously decided to convene a joint session of Parliament at 2 pm on Wednesday. The pending bills including electoral reforms would be presented in the session of Majlis-e-Shoora.
