The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday rejected a petition seeking a ban on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and its Emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman over his anti-army statements.

Chief Justice IHC Athar Minallah questioned why the high court should prevent any person from exercising their right to freedom of speech.

"Even the judiciary is criticized," he noted. "Our own record should be good enough for people to not raise a finger at us."

"How many people will we ban? In the age of globalization and social media, we cannot bar every person from speaking," observed the IHC Chief Justice. Justice Minallah also stressed that the country should allow citizens to speak freely.

The petitioner, Shahjahan Khan, had sought a ban on the broadcast of Falz's speeches and asked why the federal government has failed to take action against JUI-F leader for speaking against the military.

He added in the petition that Fazl was liable to be charged with high treason due to his statements against the country's armed forces.

Shahjahan named the JUI-F chief, the federal government, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority's (Pemra) chairperson as respondents.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019