11-year-old accuses Presidency staff of stealing his speech

ISLAMABAD: An 11-year-old student approached the Islamabad High Court on Friday, asking it to stop the President House from broadcasting the content of his speech on Quaid-e-Azam Day (Dec 25), citing plagiarism concerns.

An 11-year-old child, identified as Sabeel Haider, submitted a plea to the IHC today. He challenged the President House’s decision to hand over his written speech to another senior student for the function that will mark Quaid-e-Azam’s 141st birthday.

“If the president is watching this TV channel, I request him to take notice of this unjust act,” said Sabeel while speaking to Geo News.

The 11-year-old said that he had a full-dress rehearsal of his speech on Dec 21, but when he reached President House on Dec 22 for recording, he came to know that his speech was being delivered by another student named Ayesha Ishtiaq.

In his application, he appealed to the high court that the act by the Secretary President House should be declared illegal and the speech should be stopped from going on-air on national television.

Sabeel Haider made Secretary President House party to the case in his plea. He said that for the function he had sent a speech for approval to the President House.  The speech after some amendments had gained approval, he stated.

Sabeel further said that he even missed two of his exams for the sake of the speech. He stated in his application that the move by the President House was completely unfair.

The IHC reserved the judgment regarding the plea after hearing arguments.

Sabeel had earlier delivered a speech on March 23 and received a certificate as well from the President House.