Contempt petition filed against Pakistan PM for UN speech

A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for delivering his speech at the 70th United Nations General Assembly session in English, a media report said on Sunday.

Zahid Ghani, the petitioner, contends that the prime minister had flouted the September 8 Supreme Court verdict which directed the federal and provincial governments to use, without any delay, Urdu for official and other purposes, Dawn online reported.

He said the heads of other states, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Sushmita Swaraj, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Cuban President Raul Castro, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had addressed the same UN meeting in their national languages.

Prime Minister Sharif, the petition said, committed an offence and, therefore, should be prosecuted.

In its petition, Ghani argued that since prime minister Sharif knew about the September 8 judgment, the apex court should order his disqualification as member of the national assembly.