ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday withdrew the contempt of court notice against former Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The court maintained that a bench had reviewed Ashraf’s letter and found no evidence of contempt of court therein.
A three-member bench of SC, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, took up the case for hearing. During the initial hearing of the case, Raja Ashraf was also present in the court.
The CJP inquired from the counsel of Ashraf as to who had issued the contempt of court notice to the former prime minister. The counsel, namely Wasim Sajjad, told the court that the notice was issued to his client by the SC registrar.
In the letter, Ashraf had said that the government was not exercising its influence in the rental power projects case. The counsel told the court that a request was made to constitute a commission for investigation of the former PM.
During the hearing, CJP Nisar remarked that the context of Ashraf’s letter would have to be studied to reach a decision. “Was Raja Pervez Ashraf prime minister at that time?” the CJP inquired. To this, the counsel said that his client was, in fact, the prime minister when a notice was served to him.
The counsel also informed the court that Ashraf had extended an unconditional apology for his earlier remarks. On this, the court withdrew the contempt of court notice after hearing the arguments and reviewing Ashraf’s letter.