ISLAMABAD, June 28: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday accepted the apology of two lawmakers who criticised the judiciary that resulted in a case of contempt against them.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the case against independent Senator Faisal Vawda and Member of the National Assembly Mustafa Kamal of Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
They had criticised the judiciary in press conferences in May.
During the hearing, the court was informed that Vawda on June 26 submitted an apology to the court in the case. The chief justice asked: “Have you also apologised?” Vawda responded in affirmative saying he had submitted an unconditional apology.
Kamal’s counsel Barrister Farogh Naseem on his turn informed the court that his client had also apologised and expressed regret during a press conference.
“We are withdrawing the contempt notices against Senator Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal. We respect the parliament and expect you to respect the judiciary as an institution,” the court ruled after a break in the hearing.
The Supreme Court had also issued a contempt notice on June 4 to 34 TV channels for airing the anti-judiciary press conferences by Vawda and Kamal.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqi appeared before the court on behalf of 26 television channels and the court inquired about the clients’ responses. “None of your clients (channels) have submitted any response yet, only lawyers have,” he observed.
After the argument, Siddiqi agreed to submit responses signed by the channels.
However, the chief justice said that the court had been constrained to issue show-cause notices to all the channels, those who have submitted the replies and the remaining channels who have not submitted any reply.
“We are also issuing contempt notices to them as to why they should not be proceeded against for contempt of court,” Justice Isa said. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
