Summary Supreme Court admits petition of contempt of court against Prime Minister on speaking in English
ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) – Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali has accepted a petition of contempt of court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on speaking publicly in English instead of Urdu, reported Dunya News.
The Chief Justice has formed a three member bench to hear the petition on February 28. The petition was filed by Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi and Mian Zahid Ghani. The petition says that Prime Minister has committed contempt of court by speaking in English against clear orders of court. The court should proceed against the Prime Minister for contempt of court.
On September 9 2015, Justice Khawaja in his judgment noted that the constitution, written in 1973, had given the government a 15-year grace period to switch all official communication over to English, but the order had never been implemented.
Article 251 of the Constitution says: “(1) The National language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day. (2) Subject to clause (1), the English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu. (3) Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to the national language.”
The court ordered the federal government and the four provinces to make the switchover within three months in order to end the "societal divide" between the English-speaking elite and the non-English speaking majority.
