The Supreme Court on Wednesday discharged the contempt of court notice against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, a private T.V. Channel reported.
The apex court resumed the hearing today.
While speaking to the media after the notice was discharged, Imran reiterated that the word “shameful” was used against the conduct of presiding officers in May 11 elections only and not for the judiciary. He said that the party’s 2,500-page long white paper documents the rigging.
The PTI chairman stated that the matter is about the future of Pakistan and the only objective of his comments was to have fair and free elections in the country.
He further stated that May 11 elections were the first one to be held under judicial supervision and only the court can be called for justice.
“If the rigging incidents during the general elections are not investigated, the next election will not be a fight over the mandate but rather over who is better at rigging,” said Imran.
Hearing
Earlier during the hearing, Justice Ejaz Chaudhry said the term “shameful” is abusive if used against the judiciary.
The bench hearing the case was not satisfied with Imran’s reply and asked him to review it.
In response to Imran’s written reply, Justice Anwar stated that the word ‘shameful’ is offensive if referred to the judiciary, however a better meaning of the term can be provided by the defendant party.
“The court will review the meaning of the word ‘shameful’, if Imran Khan does not apologise,” says Justice Ejaz.
His prosecutor Hamid Khan had submitted a 21-page reply to the apex court on August 27.
Background
A press statement by Imran on July 26 triggered the contempt of court controversy when he said that the judiciary was involved in rigging during the May 11 elections. The PTI chief had later said the statement was made in good faith wherein the reference to the judiciary was for the returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) belonging to the subordinate judiciary assigned to the election process.
Imran appeared before the court on August 2 in this regard and submitted a brief written reply.
Unimpressed by the reply, the apex court bench adjourned the hearing till August 28 and asked Imran’s counsel to submit a comprehensive response at the next date of the hearing.
Warrior of justice, Mr.Imran Khan,indeed; grown up so well, from cricket to knell, the knell of grace,the knell of change, the knell of hope, the knell of scope, the scope of Self;may ALLAH always Give Help. ameen.
Lesson: It is allowed to use word shameful for lower judiciary (presiding officers) however using the same word for superior courts is contempt of court.
A hasty retreat by the judiciary!
Nazria-e-zaroorat
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