Ghulam Sarwar Khan tenders unconditional apology

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its judgement in contempt proceedings against Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan and Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

During the hearing Ghulam Sarwar Khan tendered an unconditional apology as the court resumed hearing on a contempt case against him.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah told the minister that he had created doubts in people's minds about the court's order, referring to the IHC decision to grant former prime minister Nawaz Sharif bail.

The CJ said the court’s decisions could be criticized using appropriate words. "I am repeating this again and again that this court respects parliament and elected Members of National Assembly. But you are destroying people's confidence in the whole system,” the chief was quoted a saying by Geo News.

He said Nawaz's appeal was still pending before the court but the prime minister and ministers were saying something else. "You are trying to influence court’s proceedings," he said.

The minister then told the court, "I apologize, if you think contempt of court has been committed. I don't want to contest this case therefore I tender an unconditional apology. 

The minister said he also regretted his words which might have hurt the court.

The court, however, decided to serve him with a show-cause notice for contempt of court, asking him to submit a written explanation.

The chief justice said the court was not hurt by the minister's remarks.

He said the elected representatives were supposed to boost people's confidence in institutions but Ghulam Sarwar Khan had tried to erode this confidence.

The court then postponed the hearing till November 25.