Contempt petition: PHC summons Aimal Wali to explain position tomorrow

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued notice to Awami National Party (ANP) provincial chief Aimal Wali Khan in contempt petition and directed him to appear before the court in person to clear his position tomorrow (Thursday).

Former lawmaker Fazal Muhammad Khan had filed a contempt petition in the PHC against ANP provincial chief Aimal Wali for his statements and interviews against the high court through his counsel Barrister Sarwar Muzaffar Shah.

During the course of hearing, a single bench of PHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan said that Aimal Wali should appear before the court to explain his statement.

Barrister Sarwar Muzaffar Shah told the court that ANP leader Aimal Wali in interviews to news channels had said that he knew the chief justice, who belonged to Asad Qaiser’s village. He pleaded that he had also said that the PHC CJ remained in ‘Malgari Wakilan’ as well. Upon this, the chief justice inquired, “Who are Malgari Wakilan? I am not going to join any political party after my retirement.”

The court was told that Malgari Wakilan was the lawyers wing of the ANP.

“If I was affiliated with their party, would they issue threats to their workers,” the chief justice remarked. The bench asked Advocate General Aamir Javed to come and see what they were saying.

The AG said that you had been working as a judge for the last 31 years, perhaps, he (Aimal Wali) would not have been born at that time.

The petitioner’s counsel said that Aimal Wali had also said that the chief justice will return to law practice after his retirement.

He contended that the respondent was leading a political party, therefore, he should have been more careful in making any public statement about the judiciary.

However, he argued his conduct showed his intent to publicly ridicule the judge and the court. The chief justice said that the statement seemed a contempt of court and issued notice to Aimal Wali to appear in court and explain himself.

Fazal Muhammad, who is a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, had requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the ‘contemnor’ Aimal Wali and punish him accordingly.

The petitioner stated that on December 21 the respondent (Aimal Wali) had given interviews to different national news channels wherein he had made some gravely scandalous, malicious and defamatory remarks against the PHC chief justice.

He added the respondent further reiterated some of his baseless allegations when he posted a statement on his social media account on X (formerly Twitter).

He further stated that the contemnor had not only attributed false and scandalous accusations to the chief justice but also hurled threats at him.