The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the Sindh Information Department secretary and other parties over a plea challenging the use of pictures of leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in advertisements published for the promotion of the party and using government funds to pay for the ads.
An SHC bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard a petition contesting the promotion of political leadership in government-sponsored advertisements during elections. The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Mureed Ali Shah, maintained at the hearing that pictures of political leadership were being published in government-sponsored advertisements despite restrictive orders by the Supreme Court. He claimed that it was against the law to publish the pictures of political leadership in government-sponsored advertisements.
Advocate Shah moved the court to order the reimbursement of government funds spent on political advertisements. However, public prosecutor Jawad Dero argued that elections were over and hence, now the petition was ineffective.
At this, Justice Mazhar sought details of the current policy on the issue. Following that, the court adjourned the hearing and issued notices to the Sindh information secretary and other authorities, seeking a report pertaining to the matter. Separately, a bench headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to complete the inquiry against former provincial minister and PPP leader Sharjeel Memon, who is accused of making illegal appointments in the Sindh information department.
Hearing a plea filed by Memon, the court asked the NAB about the inquiry’s progress.
The NAB prosecutor told the court that a new inquiry against Memon was in progress and more time was needed to complete it. The court gave the NAB until February 23 to complete the inquiry and sought a progress report from the NAB at the next hearing. It also extended the bail plea of Memon till the next hearing
