ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday gave PTI chairman Imran Khan another chance to submit a “well-considered” response in the contempt proceedings initiated against him for his controversial remarks about district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved his chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill’s physical remand in a sedition case.
The former prime minister was summoned by the court in his personal capacity at the last hearing, when the IHC had also issued a show-cause notice to him.
A five-member bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar, heard the case today.
In its written order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the IHC found Imran’s reply, submitted yesterday, to be “unsatisfactory”.
“The learned counsel for the respondent sought further time to file a supplementary reply to the show-cause notice as pleaded in the provisional reply,” it stated and gave the PTI chief’s lawyers a time of seven days to file the supplementary reply.
“With consent of the parties we hereby appoint Pakistan Bar Council, Munir A Malik and Makhdoom Ali Khan as amicus curiae in the case to assist us,” the court added.
The IHC has summoned Imran and his lawyers on September 8 at 2:30pm. Prior to the hearing, Islamabad police said a “special security plan” had been devised for the courtahead of the hearing.
“Only individuals with permission from the IHC will be allowed on the court’s premises and alternative routes have been arranged for residents of the area,” a tweet by the capital police said on Tuesday.
PTI chief ready to ‘take back words’
Imran submitted his reply to the IHC yesterday, wherein he expressed his willingness to “take back” his words about judge Chaudhry if they were “regarded as inappropriate” and pleaded before the IHC that the judges who had agreed to initiate the case against him should consider withdrawing themselves from the bench as, according to him, they had pre-judged the matter.
In his reply, submitted through counsels Hamid Khan and Barrister Salman Safdar, he urged the IHC to discharge the show-cause notice issued to him and dispose of the contempt matter.
He further asked the court to examine the contents of his speech in the context of his intention, which was “bona fide”.
The reply explained that Imran was under a misconception that judge Chaudhry was an executive magistrate carrying out executive or administrative functions on the federal government’s orders.
The government was “bent upon torturing and violating” the fundamental rights of Gill, the PTI chief said, adding: “It was under this misconception that she was referred to as magistrate.”
The PTI chief maintained he did not mean to threaten the judicial officer or to say anything which brought the administration of law into disrepute.
The reply contended that no contempt was committed by the respondent and that the deputy registrar picked words selectively from his Aug 20 speech.
“These words were taken totally out of context and splashed all over the print and electronic media to give an impression as if the respondent (Imran) intended to take the law into his hands.”
The PTI chief alleged that the contempt proceedings were initiated on the basis of clippings from newspapers that were against him.
Court showing leniency: Tarar
After today’s proceeding concluded, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar alleged that the court was showing leniency to Imran.
“In the past, it has been seldom seen that a person accused of contempt was allowed to leave the court without a punishment,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Tarar said there was a perception that the PTI chief was still the “blue eyed boy” of certain quarters and highlighted that it was important to dispel that impression by implementing the law equally on every person.
Referring to previous contempt of court cases faced by politicians, the minister said that they contrasted with the order passed by the IHC today. He said the nation expected consistency, parity and unity in court decisions.
Tarar added that he had felt “strange” that the court had provided Imran another chance to reflect on his behaviour on charges as severe as contempt of court.
Separately, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz tweeted that the relaxations and facilities being provided to Imran proved the “excesses” committed against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.