LAHORE – The Lahore High Court’s Justice Shahid Jamil has snubbed model Sophia Mirza and her lawyers for attempting to ban business tycoon Umar Farooq Zahoor from appearing on Pakistani media to defend allegations against him by his former wife.
During the third hearing at the Lahore High Court, Justice Shahid Jamil told Sophia Mirza that there will be consequences for her if she continues to needlessly interfere in the court procedures.
During the previous hearing, the judge had asked Sophia Mirza to avoid interfering in the court procedures in the presence of her counsel and on the present hearing the judge issued warning to both Sophia Mirza and her lawyer Chaudhary Adnan Faiz Kalaar of dismissing their petition with costs.
At the very outset, Justice Shahid Jamil asked the counsel of Khushbakht Mirza (known as Sophia Mirza in the film industry) that he has to assist the court that which provision of law is violated by PEMRA by airing content about Umar Farooq Zahoor. The judge also read out the order passed on last date of hearing and asked the counsel that where is the complaint filed before PEMRA.
However, instead of placing the required document before Court, the counsel gave material to the judge extracted from google search over which the judge expressed his displeasure and told the Counsel he was not listening properly as he has been told to provide the copy of complaint filed before PEMRA. Upon this, the Counsel handed over few printed pages to the judge.
Justice Shahid expressed his annoyance over the casual manner of handing over documents in the court instead of filing them through the proper filing procedure. The lawyer accepted that he couldn’t file the documents in proper manner due to paucity of time.
When Khushbakht Mirza tried to interfere, the judge snubbed her and told her to stay quiet or sit down. “Its court of law, don’t make mockery of it,” he said.
The judge told the counsel that the court was giving him 3-4 days to “give proper assistance to Court of next date of hearing or I will dismiss your petition with costs.”
During the last hearing, the same court refused to issue notices or directions to PEMRA to ban media appearances of businessman and Liberia’s Ambassador-at-Large Umar Farooq Zahoor on an application filed by his former wife and actor Sophia Mirza.
The former model had applied to Lahore High Court that through Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), directions should be issued to all TV channels to place ban on Umar Farooq Zahoor. The couple divorced over 14 years ago and since then they have been engaged in a legal war for the custody of their twins Zainab Umar and Zuneirah Umar, both 14, who live with their father in Dubai.
Sophia Mirza approached the court after Mr Zahoor, Zainab and Zuneirah made a number of appearances on Pakistani media to refute allegations of kidnapping and suppression made by Sophia Mirza. The twins have said they have been living happily with their father in Dubai and do not wish to live with their mother. Umar Farooq Zahoor has told media in the last few months how Sophia Mirza (aka Khushbakhat Mirza) used the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under Shahzad Akbar to target him on false grounds.
Sophia Mirza has made allegations against her ex-husband of fraud and corruption but the respected businessman has not been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing in any jurisdiction of the world. Sophia Mirza has approached the court after the couple’s daughters made several appearances on media and told how their mother had treated them badly and that they don’t want to live with her. They have told model Mirza that she should not be using their name to gain media coverage and to present herself as a victim.
Two months ago, it emerged through court papers that Sophia Mirza aborted her first child on insistence of her mother and she stabbed business tycoon Umar Farooq Zahoor in Dubai when they were married and also staged a robbery at the shared Dubai residence. Mr Zahoor divorced Sophia Mirza after these incidents.
