ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Thursday reserved verdict on the contempt of court cases against PM’s Special Assistant Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan after the submission of their unconditional apology in the court for their comments on the bail of former premier Nawaz Sharif.Earlier, both Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Ghulam Sarwar Khan while appearing on TV talk shows said the government hoped that all the pending cases would be disposed of without delay as speedy hearing was being conducted in Nawaz Sharif’s case; terming bail of Nawaz ‘deal’ with the government and the medical report which was produced in the IHC could be fake.IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah took up the hearing and reserved his judgment when both the PTI leaders submitted their unconditional apology before the court. During hearing, federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan submitted an unconditional apology before the court and said he is a political worker and can’t even think of insulting the court or judicial system.IHC chief justice told Sarwar that he was not a common man and was in fact a federal minister. “If a judicial decision comes, criticise it, but use correct words,” the chief justice remarked. “I have repeatedly said the court respects the Parliament and the elected assembly but you are destroying people’s trust”. He further said Nawaz Sharif’s appeal is still pending in the court. “Your prime minister and other ministers are saying something else. You are trying to influence the court’s proceedings”. To this, the aviation minister said, “If you think there has been contempt of court, then I apologise for it. I do not want to fight this case. I submit my unconditional apology to the court”. The court then issued a contempt of court notice to the federal minister, saying that he should submit a written reply.Justice Minallah further remarked that the court was not hurt by the comments. “Your job is it increase people’s trust in institutions but you are trying to remove people’s trust in the institutions by your words,” he said. Sarwar then requested the court to review its show cause notice sent to him over contempt of court. The court then reserved its verdict on the unconditional apology by Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and adjourned the hearing till November 25.While talking to media outside the court, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said Prime Minister Imran Khan has preferred humanity over politics and that’s why the government came out with legal solution for facilitating Nawaz Sharif for getting treatment abroad.She deplored the Opposition’s attempts for exploiting the condition of indemnity bond for political purposes and said the government treated the issue as a human issue as it related to serious condition of Nawaz.She said the Opposition should not exploit the situation for political mileage and instead of criticising the government the PML-N former ministers should review their statements when former president Pervez Musharraf was seeking the same permission for treatment abroad.“How come that people opposing the request of Musharraf for treatment abroad, are now criticising the PTI government despite that it had allowed Nawaz’s treatment abroad”. However, she explained that a convicted person when allowed for treatment abroad must submit some security that after recovering he will return to face the law. She further said Musharraf was neither convicted nor served imprisonment order even then his plea was opposed but in Nawaz case who is convicted and imprisoned, the PML-N leaders are blaming the government for seeking indemnity bond. Firdous said although Prime Minister Imran Khan has barred us from issuing statements on Nawaz’s health, the PML-N spokespersons are hurling allegations on the government. “In this scenario we expect from Shahbaz Sharif that sanity would prevail and he would understand legal compulsions and come out with a solution paving way for Nawaz’s treatment abroad.Commenting on Maulana Fazlur Rehman, she said he has migrated from Islamabad to his ancestral abode and we hope better decisions from him in supplementing government’s efforts for economic stability and national cohesion in the country. “He could score only 13 against Imran Khan’s century (126 days sit-in) and should understand that if he desires betterment of people, he should use the most esteemed forum of Parliament for legislation on people’s issues,” she added. “If Maulana seriously feels masses problems, he should utilise his 15 members in the Parliament for productive legislation and cooperate with the government in implementing reforms agenda,” she further added.
from The News International - National https://ift.tt/355wgru
0 comments:
Post a Comment