ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) today rejected plea of Senior Vice President of PTI Shireen Mazari in which she requested the court to declare sedition laws illegal.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah dismissed the petition on Saturday terming non-maintainable.
Shireen Mazari had filed the petition after her party member, Shahbaz Gill, was charged under the law in Islamabad and detained for over a month.
In her plea, filed with the IHC, Mazari had challenged Section 124-A of sedition in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
“Section 124-A of Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 may very graciously be declared as ultra-vires in terms of Article 8 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 being inconsistent with and in derogation of fundamental rights provided under Article 9, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19, 19A of the Constitution,” the petition read.
Mazari contended that Section 124-A of the Sedition Act was being used by the government to suppress freedom of expression, which was inconsistent with the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.
The petition had said that sedition cases were resorted to suppress criticism and expression. In the petition, it was requested that Article 124-A of sedition be declared illegal.
“In the interim and during the pendency of the instant petition, the respondents (Government of Pakistan) may kindly be restrained from registering any FIRs, or undertaking any coercive measure in Sedition Cases under Section 124-A,” the petition had stated.
PTI leader Mazari also mentioned that the British government introduced the law of sedition to oppress Indians and they (Britishers) have abolished the law in their own country.
The PTI leader had said that after acknowledging the value of the right of free speech and expression, the United Kingdom deleted the seditious libel through the Coroners and Justice Act, 2009.
