The Supreme Court will today (Thursday) announce its reserved verdict on the show-cause notice issued to the PPP vice president and senior lawyer, Babar Awan for his contemptuous address to a press conference against the court’s December 1, 2011 order in memo case.
The verdict will be announced by a two-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Ather Saeed, which had reserved its’ judgement on March 1 on the contempt of court case against Awan.
On the last hearing, Awan’s lawyer Ali Zafar had argued that his client had not given any remarks that ridiculed the judiciary. The court however had pointed out that the remarks were passed against the family of a Supreme Court judge in the December 1, 2011 press conference.
Zafar had stated that his client in his statement had reconfirmed that he had the utmost respect and regard for the judge and considered him a leading luminary and in case if he (Justice Asif Saeed Khosa) was hurt, Awan had the deepest regrets.
Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan had then said Awan had only “expressed regrets” but had not tendered an apology. He had said Awan was a popular lawyer as well as a politician. Therefore, he should have respected the judiciary.
Zafar had repeatedly said his client was accused of committing judicial contempt and in such proceedings the court was like a parent while the alleged was similar to an errant child, and this was why the world over this contempt jurisdiction was used sparingly, in exceptional circumstances and not by way of punishment.
Earlier, the court had suspended Awan’s licence declaring his behavior ‘unbecoming’.
If babar awan gets away with it then I would have to assume that the judges have no self respect or any respect for the courts that they represent. In that case they would have no one to blame but themselves for the humiliation that they get from political leaders. Now is their chance to stand up for themselves and show that they really are capable of making independent and right decisions. Lets see what happens..
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