MUZAFFARABAD, April 12, 2023: Senior minister Khawaja Farooq Ahmed was appointed as acting prime minister of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir after Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was disqualified by the high court in a contempt case.
AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry signed a summary of entrusting powers of the leader of the house to Mr Ahmed. A notification in this regard was issued by the AJK chief secretary.
On Tuesday, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Tanveer Ilyas Khan from holding any public office after he was found guilty of contempt of court.
A full bench announced the verdict in a contempt notice taken after he criticised the stay orders issued by the court at a public meeting. The former premier had also appeared before the court and tendered his unconditional apology over using contemptuous remarks against the judiciary.
However, the bench turned down his apology and disqualified him as AJK prime minister and revoked his membership of the AJK assembly. He is the first AJK prime minister to have been sent packing by court.
On Monday, a notice was issued to Tanveer Ilyas Khan, who is also a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), through his principal secretary to seek his explanation.
In the notice, the high court said: “Prime Minister Tanveer Ilyas has directly threatened the superior judiciary and the language of his speech at a public meeting is highly derogatory, improper and indecently worded.” Not only the latest statement, but his “previous track record from several months is [also] objectionable, unbecoming and improper,” it added.
The order said the judges’ council of the high court had unanimously decided not to leave the matter unattended “simply by shutting [its] eye from contemptuous and derogatory statement of the person who is at the helm of affairs.”