Rejecting the adjournment plea of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz pertaining to the absence of his counsel, the Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that it would not give any verdict without listening to Malik Riaz’s counsel. A three-member bench headed by Justice Shakirullah Jan resumed the proceeding of contempt of court case against Malik Riaz. Advocate on record Abdul Ghafoor pleaded the court that it must consider the request of the respondent and adjourn the proceeding of the case, as Malik Riaz’s counsel Abdul Basit was suffering from cardiac arrest and was not in a position to appear before the court.
The court said Dr Basit only had to listen to the petitioners’ arguments which could be done for him by the advocate-on-record or by an assisting counsel. The substituting advocate could take notes and provide them to Dr Basit, the court said. Ghafoor said the case was very important and sensitive in nature and the respondent, Malik Riaz, had hired the lawyer after great struggle as no one in the legal fraternity was willing to take up the case. He said it would be unfair to hear the case in the absence of main counsel of Malik Riaz. Justice Jan said an order would only be issued after ample opportunity was provided to the parties involved. Petitioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Gujjar requested the court to sentence Riaz under the contempt of court laws. Gujjar, former president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, had earlier requested the court to include Riaz’s name in the Exit Control List (ECL).