Daily Times

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Saturday ordered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Imran Ali Shah to donate Rs 3 million to the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund, reported a private TV channel.

The bench headed by the chief justice at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry heard a suo motu notice taken against the PTI MPA over the physical assault of a citizen by him in Karachi.

As the hearing started, the chief justice asked the MPA, “What were you thinking when you thrashed the citizen? No one even beats up animals like this.” Justice Nisar continued, “Why did you assault the citizen? You are representative of the people and is this how you will behave? This is an unacceptable crime and we won’t let it go.”

“I will come outside, try and slap me,” the chief justice challenged Shah, who sought to apologise and said he was embarrassed.

Unconvinced, Justice Nisar retorted, “What sorry? I [once] hit a servant with a belt in childhood. My father beat me up twice to teach me a lesson.” He reminded the lawmaker that there was no ‘compensation for insults’. In response to a question by the chief justice, Shah said he had slapped the man three or four times. “You will also be slapped four times in public in the same way,” the chief justice announced.

Turning to Dawood Chohan, the victim of the episode, the chief justice asked why he had agreed to forgive Shah. Chohan responded that the-then nominated governor had visited his house in person to settle the matter.

The chief justice then directed that the video clip of Shah thrashing Chohan be played in the court.

A video of the PTI MPA assaulting a citizen had sparked outrage on social media after it went viral earlier this month. Shah was caught on video slapping a man – identified as Dawood Chohan – multiple times in the middle of a road in Karachi. The video also showed the MPA’s guards threatening the man.

Subsequently, PTI’s Sindh chapter had suspended Shah for a month.

Shah was elected MPA from Karachi’s PS-129 constituency during the July 25 polls.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the incident on August 18.

Published in Daily Times, September 2^nd 2018.