HC receives SC notice for Altaf Hussain through FO

LONDON: Pakistan’s Foreign Office has asked Pakistan High Commission in London to post the contempt of court notice served on MQM chief Altaf Hussain to his international secretariat address in London.
The notice asks Altaf Hussain to appear before the Supreme Court on January 7.A Foreign Office source told The News that the Pakistan High Commission had received the notice; however, when pressed for verification, a spokesman at the High Commission said “Diplomatic Bag” for this week had not been opened.
The News can confirm that the notice has been received and will be posted to the Muttahida’s Edgware address within this week. MQM Coordination Committee members Mustafa Azizabadi told The News that no correspondence had yet been received.
“We will show it to our legal experts and Altaf Hussain will take his next step as per the legal advice and guidelines provided by the legal team.
It must be kept in mind that Altaf Hussain cannot go to Pakistan because of threats to his life. He left Pakistan only after he was attacked with a grenade on December 21, 1991 while going to Nine Zero from airport after arriving in Karachi from London.”
Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Supreme Court bench has summoned Altaf Hussain for using “improper” and “derogatory” language against the judges, under Article 204 of the Constitution read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003.
The order has been issued with the signatures of all the three members of the apex court bench that would hear the case. The court orders state that the words used by Altaf Hussain in his fiery speech are tantamount to interference in court matters and arm-twisting of the judges. In his speech, Altaf Hussain had criticized the delimitation of constituencies in Karachi.
The MQM chief had alleged that certain judges of Supreme Court were part of a conspiracy to eliminate the MQM. He demanded an apology from the court for using the world “monopoly” in the order given by the Supreme Court over electoral constituencies in Karachi.
The Supreme Court has ordered Altaf Hussain to personally appear before it for clarification over his remarks against the judges. The contempt notice has been sent to London because Altaf Hussain had made these remarks over telephone.
It is almost certain that Altaf will not travel to Pakistan due to the genuine security threats and pendency of a large number of cases against him with the Pakistani courts.
The MQM has always said that these cases were fabricated and formulated to persecute the liberal party. All these cases were registered against Altaf Hussain after he left Pakistan.