Prime Minister Disqualified and Removed from Office for Contempt of Court

The Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, has been disqualified by the full court bench of the AJK High Court for contempt of court.

The disqualification occurred after Ilyas indirectly blamed the judiciary for negatively impacting his government’s functioning and interfering with the executive branch.

During the hearing, the court played three video clips of Ilyas, including one of his speech on 9 April, and asked him if he contested the charges.

Ilyas replied in the negative and tendered an unconditional apology to the court, but the court subsequently rejected it, sentencing him till the rising of the court. Justice Khalid Rasheed questioned what guarantee there was that Ilyas would not resort to doing the same in the future.

The court order stated that Ilyas had admitted to the remarks and also refrained from submitting “any other objection or reply” in response to the notice issued.

Therefore, “it can be safely held that his said act comes within the ambit of contempt of court under Article 45 of the AJK interim Constitution, 1974.” Ilyas has the right to appeal the decision in the AJK Supreme Court.