Quetta: A bench comprising Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan issued notice to the Attorney General of Pakistan and directed to file a reply within two weeks.
Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, and Justice Rozi Khan Barech heard the constitutional petition of BUJ and Balochistan Bar Council.
Rahib Buledi, Advocate, Inter-Provincial Chairman, Balochistan Bar Council, appeared in the court on behalf of the petitioner.
He argued that the Prevention of Electronic Act 2016 is amended under a Presidential Ordinance. In the presence of democratic institutions, the ordinance is unconstitutional and illegal. It should be declared null and void.
After hearing the arguments, the High Court declared the constitutional petition admissible and directed to issue notice to the Attorney General of Pakistan and also directed the Attorney General to submit a reply within two weeks.
Former Supreme Court Bar President Amanullah Kanrani also appeared in the court and offered his full support at the next hearing in support of the constitutional petition against the PECA Amendment Ordinance.
After which the hearing was adjourned.
Shahzada Zulfiqar, President PFUJ, Irfan Saeed, President Balochistan Union of Journalists, and Manzoor Ahmed, General Secretary BUJ were present on the occasion.
Other officials and journalists including Jabbar Baloch and Gulzar Shah were also present.
Talking to the media after the hearing, Rahib Buledi Advocate said that the Balochistan Union of Journalists and Balochistan Bar Council have challenged the PECA Presidential Ordinance.
“It is welcome that the petition has been declared admissible by the Balochistan High Court. It is the malice of the government to cruelly amend the PICA Act through a Presidential Ordinance,” he adds.
“We have asked the court to declare the PKK Amendment Ordinance null and void,” he further said.
BUJ President Irfan Saeed said that journalists would take the Amendment Ordinance to its logical conclusion.
“The government wants to stifle journalists through black law which we will not be allowed,” he adds.
He said that lawyers are against this oppressive law. “Civil society and political parties are also with us,” he said.
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