AJK Prime Minister disqualified

In a big blow to the democratic political governance Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, AJK Prime Minister disqualified by the full court bench of the AJK High Court from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt. After the verdict he ceased to hold this office and the legislative assembly will have to elect a new premier. The issue began when the superior courts of AJK separately served notices to Sardar Tanveer Ilyas to explain his position with regard to his derogatory remarks about the superior judiciary in his speeches at public meetings. It was earlier reported that at a function in Islamabad he had indirectly blamed the judiciary for affecting the functioning of his government and interfering in the domain of the executive through the grant of stay orders. He had particularly referred to a $15 million Saudi-funded education sector project, saying it had been in a limbo because the court had issued a stay order on it. Similarly, he had also taken strong exception to the de-sealing by the courts of tobacco factories involved in tax evasion to the tune of billions of rupees. During the hearing, the AJK Prime Minister disqualified court played his three video clips asking him if he contested the charges to which he replied in the negative and tendered an unconditional apology to the court but then later rejected his apology and issued judgment. TW