Sukkur Court Summons Maryam Nawaz For Allegedly ‘Scandalizing’ State Institutions

Sukkur Court Summons Maryam Nawaz For Allegedly ‘Scandalizing’ State Institutions
A Sukkur court has sent a notice to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, summoning her on March 10 over accusations of disrespecting "state institutions".

A summons notice has been issued after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) District President Zaheer Muhammad filed a petition in the court, seeking the filing of a case against Maryam under Sections 22-A-6 and 22-B.

As per the notice issued by the court, Maryam Nawaz has been summoned before the court along with the Station House Officer (SHO) police station Model Town, the director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Islamabad, the FIA Sukkur deputy director, the SHO/in-charge FIA cybercrime in Sukkur, and the senior superintendent of police and deputy superintendent of the police complaint cell in Sukkur.

The court has directed Maryam Nawaz and other respondents to submit a detailed report and asked them to appear on March 10 at 8:30am.

The petitioner stated that the PML-N senior vice president made remarks against state institutions while addressing a public gathering. He alleged that she tried to provoke people to rebel against the state institutions.

"That proposed accused Maryam Nawaz Sharif addressed the people of [Sargodha] and cued the alleged pictures, which included ex-Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hamid, former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice (retd) Saqib Nisar, and presently two sitting Supreme Court judges who are part of the apex court bench hearing a suo motu case to determine who has the constitutional responsibility and authority to announce the date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," the plea maintained.

In his plea, the petitioner stated that PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz addressed hate speech and tried to incite the public against the highest state institutions.

The petitioner mentioned in his plea that he approached the FIA director and Sukkur SSP, but they refused to initiate any action against Maryam Nawaz.