ISLAMABAD: Though many parliamentarians, premiers, army chiefs and other influential including judges of superior judiciary have infuriated the country’s arbiters and were issued contempt notices but only a few had been charged with contempt of court.
Of late, Senator Nehal Hashmi is yet another high profile being the latest conviction of contempt of court is the second parliamentarian (after Yusuf Raza Gilani) in recent past who has been disqualified from parliament on these charges.
Although the phenomenon of the contempt of court exists throughout the world, whereby the judges have the powers to impose fines upon the contemnors or may send them to jail for defiance or for impeding justice. Let us briefly recap all the key incidents where some four Pakistani prime ministers, one caretaker premier, an army chief, dozens of judges, ministers, leaders of top political parties, influential business magnates etc have been guilty of earning the wrath of the apex court arbiters:
Before, Senator Nehal Hashmi, PTI Chairman Imran Khan was charged with contempt by the Supreme Court and directed to appear before the judges for dubbing the judiciary “shameful” in his rather “bitter” and “harsh” press conference of July 26, July 29 and July 30, 2013. The PTI chairman was heard saying before the judges during his August 2 hearing that his criticism was aimed at returning officers, and not the judiciary as a whole.
Contempt proceedings against the then sitting prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, were initiated in 1976 in the case filed by the National Awami Party (NAP), now called the Awami National Party (ANP). During the eventful 1970s, the National Awami Party was banned by the government and the decision was upheld by the courts of the time. However, Bhutto could not restrain himself from airing statements against the NAP, something that was not permissible in line with the court order.
Late Abdul Wali Khan, father of the current Awami National Party Chief, Asfandyar Wali, had then filed a contempt petition against Bhutto 37 years ago in 1976. Having entertained Wali Khan’s petition, the court had gone on to issue contempt notices to the prime minister of the time. However, no concrete evidence was found against premier Bhutto and the notices were subsequently discharged.
Pakistan’s former army chief, General Aslam Beg, was first charged with contempt of court on February 21, 1993. In a newspaper interview on February 4, 1993, General Beg admitted that he had sent an emissary to the Supreme Court to warn the judges not to restore the National Assembly. The then chief justice Naseem Hassan Shah got infuriated over the former army chief’s interview and had held him for contempt.
In this case, CJ Shah had remarked: “We are very sorry to hand over the defence of the country to a person who was so careless.” The court had finally convicted the retired general of contempt, but strangely did not give any judgment about the sentence. The same court even overturned its own decision after an appeal was filed. And finally on January 9, 1994, all proceedings against General Aslam Beg were dropped.
The second time General Beg had to face a contempt charge was on March 8, 2012, when during the hearing of the 1996 Asghar Khan case; his statement was termed contempt of court by the judges. During the proceedings on that date, Aslam Baig had submitted his rejoinder to the statement of the ex-Mehran Bank President, Younis Habib. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary-led Supreme court had expressed its ire over a paragraph of Baig’s statement and had termed it contempt of court.
The chief justice had then asked Aslam Baig to tender an apology over that paragraph. Left with no other option, the former army chief had to seek pardon instantly and had to appeal for the deletion of that particular paragraph. General Beg was in court to reject ex-Mehran Bank president Younis Habib’s statement, which was submitted in the Supreme Court over the petition filed by Air Marshal (R) Asghar Khan. The statement was related to the alleged disbursement of money among the national politicians by the ISI to disrupt the general elections of 1990.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had to appear personally before the Supreme Court on November 17, 1997, after a contempt notice was issued to him on recommendation of the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. This was Sharif’s second stint in power. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah had proposed the names of the five senior-most high court judges for elevation to the Supreme Court, but Sharif’s government had instead issued a notification, whereby the strength of the apex court arbiters was reduced from 17 to 12.
This decision by Nawaz Sharif did not amuse the country’s top arbiter at that time and it was deemed highly contemptuous. Resultantly, premier Nawaz Sharif was formally charged with contempt of court by the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah in a dispute that had otherwise threatened to unseat the leader elected just nine months ago.
A peep into the country’s history helps one recall that the charges were leveled during Nawaz Sharif’s second appearance at the Supreme Court. The premier was directed by the court to respond to the allegations he had leveled at a news conference, visibly showing contempt for the top judicial institution. Nawaz Sharif was facing possible disqualification from office after charges of contempt of court were brought against him, but these were eventually dismissed. But during the course of the case, Nawaz Sharif had to tender an apology. Prime minister’s celebrated lawyer S M Zafar, who had later joined the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and their PML-Q, was witnessed reading out the apology in the court on Nawaz Sharif behalf.
The premier’s statement had read: “I have neither committed contempt of court, nor do I intend to do that.” The Nawaz Sharif-Sajjad Shah tiff had divided the Supreme Court judges too, ultimately leading to the ouster of the chief justice and later that of the then president Farooq Leghari.
Quite recently on October 9, 2009, the Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO) judges were charged with contempt by the present Supreme Court. Notices in this context were issued by the apex court while hearing review pleas against its July 31, 2009 orders. On May 4, 2010, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals filed by Justice (R) Abdul Hameed Dogar and 10 other PCO judges against the contempt of court notices issued to them. The court had also given a deadline of May 7, 2010 to the PCO judges, whereby directing them to respond to the contempt of court charges and on July 8, 2010, the court had finally dismissed the constitutional review pleas of the PCO judges.
While most of these judges, who had violated the November 3, 2007 order and had taken oath under the PCO, have already submitted unconditional apologies to evade possible convictions, four among them — including former Law Secretary Yasmin Abbasi — have till date refused to tender unconditional apologies and their cases are still pending. Former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani was disqualified and ousted from office on June 19, 2012 by the Supreme Court for repeated non-compliance with court orders in the NRO case. The court had ordered him to write a letter to the Swiss authorities regarding reopening of cases against incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari. Gilani had refused to do so.
The court had ruled in its standing orders that “Gilani was ineligible to hold the Prime Minister’s office after his April 26 conviction” and all orders passed by him till that date were declared null and void. A lot has already been written on this case in recent years. Gilani’s successor, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, was also served a contempt notice in the NRO noncompliance case, but somehow he was not disqualified because he had bowed his head before the court order (after the lapse of a few weeks though).
Altogether, both Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Yusuf Raza Gilani had appeared before the Supreme Court on six occasions during 2012 alone. We all can recall that in December 2009, the court issued a contempt notice to former interior minister Rehman Malik for changing the investigation team in the Pakistan Steel Mills corruption case. The contempt of court case against him is still pending.
Then on August 24, 2010, the Supreme Court issued a contempt of court notice to the Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Mushtaq Malik, for misleading the court over blocking of transmissions of two private television channels (ARY News and Geo News) in some cities of Sindh. The Pemra chief had to save his skin by seeking indemnity.
Former PPP Law Minister Babar Awan too had challenged the Supreme Court on many occasions. Consequently, he was issued a contempt notice by the Supreme Court on January 5, 2012 for his press conference of December 1, 2011, which was related to the Memogate Scam involving Ambassador Husain Haqqani. He was accused of ridiculing the judges and mocking them publicly and his licence to practice law was subsequently suspended on January 17, 2012 for an indefinite period. On April 10, 2012, Senator Babar Awan’s attorney Barrister Ali Zafar had submitted a plea to the registrar of the Supreme Court, and had tendered an unconditional apology on his client’s behalf. On April 18, 2012, the Supreme Court had refused to accept Babar Awan’s apology.
In May 2012, he was formally indicted but had refused to accept the verdict. On July 5, 2012, Babar Awan had requested the Supreme Court to consider his unconditional apology he had already tendered, saying that court’s precedent was there to pardon when an accused offered an apology. In September 2012, Babar Awan had yet again sought an unconditional apology from the Supreme Court during hearing of the contempt case against him.
On March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court issued contempt notices to two more PPP stalwarts, Messrs Taj Haider and Sharjeel Memon, for insulting the judiciary. The duo had hit back against the judiciary, after the latter had invalidated the appointment of former NAB chairman Justice (R) Deedar Hussain Shah. The contempt of court case against these two PPP leaders is still pending. On September 11, 2012, a contempt notice was issued to former NAB chairman Admiral (R) Fasih Bokhari for not deliberately arresting the culprits involved in the Rental Power Projects case. Contempt notices were also issued to seven other NAB officers. In 2013, the SC served another contempt notice on Fasih Bokhari for writing a letter to President Asif Ali Zardari. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was among the celebrities featuring in this particular case. The contempt cases against Fasih Bokhari are pending before the court still.
On May 9, 2013, the Supreme Court issued a contempt of court notice to former caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso in the case involving the appointments and transfers of 22 federal secretaries. The caretaker PM did express his regrets in his written reply in this regard, but the court was not satisfied and hence did not dispose of this case. The Establishment Division secretary and the principal secretary to the caretaker PM were also issued similar notices for not paying heed to court’s directives in this case.
Not long ago, on December 14, 2012, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain and deputy convener of his party’s Rabita Committee Dr Farooq Sattar, were served contempt notices for delivering contemptuous speeches. They were summoned by the court on January 7, 2013. Altaf was in London and hence could not appear. However, Altaf Hussain’s lawyer Barrister Farogh Naseem had submitted an unconditional apology on his behalf for his December 2, 2012 remarks against the judiciary. In response, the Supreme Court accepted Altaf Hussain’s apology and had dismissed the contempt notice issued to the exiled leader.
Pakistan People’s Party ex-senator Faisal Raza Abidi openly expressed his anti-judiciary views, but no action was taken.
Fawad Chaudhry, adviser to ex-premier Yusuf Raza Gilani, continued severely criticising the judiciary. Now he is a spokesperson for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He says that a private TV channel launched an anti-judiciary campaign, and anti-judiciary banners were displayed along the federal capital roads. The issue was raised in the media with full force, but no notice was taken.
During the religious parties’ sit-in in Islamabad recently, the most objectionable and vulgar language was used against the superior court judges, which were circulated on the social media with impunity, but it was never held accountable as the contempt of court.