KARACHI – Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh Secretary-General Taj Haider is ready and willing to appear before the Supreme Court (SC) on contempt of court proceedings.
The SC on Saturday took notice of a press conference organised by PPP-Sindh in connection with a verdict of the apex court regarding former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief Deedar Hussain Shah. Issuing contempt notices to Haider and another PPP-Sindh leader, Sharjeel Inam Memon, the court also sought footage and clippings of the press conference as well as the speeches made in the Sindh Assembly on the issue.
But Haider claimed he had not directly heard about the notices. “I have learnt about the notices through some friends, but they had indeed been issued, I am ready to appear before the court,” he told Pakistan Today.
“The PPP has always respected courts and would continue to do so. Not only that, PPP workers and leaders stood in the line of bullets to uphold an independent judiciary,” he said while alluding to the violence on May 12, 2007, when over 40 persons were killed due to firing at rallies organized by political parties to welcome the then-deposed chief justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ifikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, to Karachi.
Many political activists had attempted to reach the Jinnah International Airport to welcome the CJP despite all roads leading towards the airport having been blocked. Haider said all parties should respect the judiciary, but at the same time, also argued that it was unfortunate that common people have a negative perception about the judiciary.
