MUZAFFARABAD - The full court bench of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Tuesday disqualified Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt of court.
On Monday last, the AJK Supreme Court and High Court had separately summoned Ilyas on Tuesday to explain his position with regard to his derogatory remarks about the superior judiciary in his speeches at public meetings.
At a function in Islamabad over the weekend, Ilyas had indirectly blamed the judiciary for affecting the functioning of his government and interfering in the domain of the executive through the grant of stay orders.
The AJK premier had claimed that a multi-million Saudi-funded education project was incomplete due to a court order. He also spoke against the court orders to reopen tobacco factories that were involved in tax evasion worth billions. On Tuesday, Justice Chaudhry Khalid Rasheed read out the judgement of the AJK High Court full bench, sentencing the AJK premier till the rising of the court. After the verdict was announced, Ilyas — who was supposed to appear before the AJK apex court drove straight to the Prime Minister’s House along with members of his cabinet.
Producing the clipping of the premier’s speech in its order, the AJK court said that the matter was discussed in a meeting of the judges’ council in view of its seriousness and it was unanimously decided it could not be overlooked because the dignity and authority of the courts was on stake and nobody could be allowed to undermine it.
With the PM’s disqualification, the entire AJK cabinet now stands dissolved. The move comes amid heightened political tensions across Pakistan due to the crisis relating to elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after assemblies in both provinces were dissolved.
Ilyas, affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), served as premier of AJK for less than a year. He was elected unopposed as the 14th prime minister of the region on April 18, 2022.
After the resignation of Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi as AJK premier, Illyas had submitted nomination papers on behalf of PTI which were declared valid by the secretary assembly.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan nominated Ilyas as the party’s candidate for prime minister’s office while the PPP and the PML-N had jointly fielded Chaudhry Yasin. The united opposition boycotted the session for the election of the prime minister, leaving no candidate in the race against Ilyas wherein he secured 33 votes in his favour.
The first prime minister of AJK, Khan Abdul Hameed Khan, was elected on July 5, 1975. AJK has had a parliamentary system since 1985. Sardar Sikandar Hayat, Sardar Atiq Ahmad Khan and Raja Farooq Haider Khan had twice held the office of AJK PM.