Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday decided to indict Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in contempt of court proceedings after he failed to satisfy the court with his replies, sources reported.

During the hearing today, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minal­lah remarked that Imran Khan’s response to the court’s show-cause notice seemingly justified contempt of the judiciary as the submitted answers showed “no remorse or regret”.

The five-member bench stated that charges against the former prime minister will be framed after two weeks.

Imran had appeared before the IHC regarding the case filed against him for allegedly making threatening remarks about an Additional Sessions Judge. On Wednesday, the former premier had submitted a second reply to IHC after the court termed his first response as “unsatisfactory.”

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, took up the contempt case against the former PM.

Imran had expressed his “deep regret” over the remarks made against Additional Sessions Judge, Islamabad, Zeba Chaudhry, saying that he will not “shy away from expressing his remorse to her”.

During today’s hearing, Imran’s counsel, Hamid Khan, said that the judges of all the courts were respectable.

“Would you have submitted the same reply if these words were used for a SC or a high court judge?” IHC chief asked Imran’s counsel.

“Will the decisions be taken in rallies or the courts,” Justice Minallah inquired.

Justice Sattar, sharing his views on Imran Khan’s comments, said words used by the PTI chairman appeared “threatening.”

To this, Imran’s lawyer responded by saying that his client had said many times that he respected the judiciary. “He ran a campaign for the freedom of the judiciary,” Hamid contended. The IHC chief justice in the last hearing (August 31) had given Imran another chance to submit a “well-considered” response in the contempt proceedings against him.

In his fresh reply submitted before a five-judge bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, on Wednesday, the former PM had said that he had no intentions of threatening the female judge.

Imran expressed his gratitude to the high court for providing him an opportunity to reflect upon the issue and its significance. He added that he had great regard for the lower judiciary and that he supported women’s rights in Pakistan,

The reply submitted by the PTI legal team, headed by Hamid Khan, on behalf of Imran, further stated; “The respondent has respect for the judiciary including the subordinate judiciary and he believes that judges of the subordinate/district judiciary should be strong and independent in order to dispense justice to the common man.”