Pakistan’s Supreme Court to hear contempt petitions against Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan’s Supreme Court will soon take up two contempt petitions against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for not notifying Urdu as the national language as the court had ordered.

The three-judge apex court bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam will hear the petitions on January 28.

In September, the Supreme Court had asked the government to consider and implement Urdu as the official language within three months.

Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi and Mian Zahid Ghani have taken the Premier to court for violating its September 2015 verdict and delivering official speeches in the English language on several occasions.

The bench will also take up the Punjab government’s plea asking for a revision of its judgment that makes it obligatory for governments to translate all laws from English to Urdu within three months.

The petitioners claim the Punjab government has already completed the translation of around 150 different laws, which now have been uploaded on the official website.

The review petition, however, states it is practically impossible to adhere to the time span of three months suggested by the court for the translation of laws from English to Urdu — considering the vast reservoir of laws on different subjects.

“It is on account of this inconsistency and problem that the provincial government is constrained to file this review petition,” the petition reads, adding the court should consider extending the three-month condition to a reasonable period.