PHC asks lawyer to submit footage of Imran’s remarks

Contempt of court case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday asked a lawyer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to submit video footage of his client’s press conference, on which the court had issued him contempt of court notice.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Younis Thaheem asked Imran Khan’s lawyer Barrister Waqar Khan to submit the footage so that the court would check whether or not he had committed the contempt of court.

During hearing, the lawyer informed the bench that Imran Khan had submitted reply to the court’s notice. He said there was nothing contemptuous in the press conference and also he was not aware as the case was pending before the court.

He said the PTI chief had only stated that some doctors were creating hurdles in the provincial government’s reforms in the health sector and the party workers would stage sit-in against them.

On November 11, 2015, the court had issued contempt notice to the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, directing him to submit a reply and explain his position for issuing statements about the cases pending before the court.

In previous hearing, the chief justice had asked the advocate general whether he could appear in a case for the head of a political party in the court. The AG replied that he had not appeared in the case for Imran Khan but just informed the court about the request Imran Khan had conveyed to him.

Khalid Mehmood, counsel for the doctors against whom the PTI chairman had issued a statement, stated that the political leaders should avoid issuing statements about the cases pending in the courts.

The chief justice remarked that the court was well aware of its jurisdiction in all matters, but the courts were dealing with some matters carefully.The bench separated the contempt of court case against the PTI chairman from the other cases in which the doctors have challenged the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015.

The court had issued contempt of court notice to Imran Khan on the complaint of the doctors, claiming that he had used derogatory language and issuing threatening statement against doctors who had challenged the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 and obtained a stay order.

Separately, the same bench also suspended the provincial government’s notification issued on January 27 regarding removing dean of the Post-Graduate Medical Institution (PGMI) from the post and sought reply from the government. The court also extended the stay order regarding dissolution of the PGMI till next hearing of the petition.

The bench issued the directions in the writ petition filed by Pakistan Medical Association through its provincial president Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon against dissolution of the PGMI.The bench asked secretary Health and Services Department, provincial government through chief secretary, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council through its secretary and College of Physician and Surgeons to submit comments in the case.

The petitioner’s lawyer Mohibullah Kakakhel submitted before the bench that the PGMI was the only institute in the KP for providing postgraduate education to the doctors about FCPS for four years, various diplomas and master’s degrees for which the Khyber Medical University (KMU) is the degree awarding body.