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Never intended to ridicule judiciary: Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said on Wednesday that he never aimed at insulting or harming the independent judiciary, Geo News reported.
While talking to the media after the Supreme Court of Pakistan disposed of the contempt notice against him, Imran Khan thanked the attorney general for his statement in his favour. He said that all the judges and courts are respectable and that he never said anything against the higher judiciary.
Imran Khan reiterated that he used the words against returning officers for their dirty job.
The PTI chief questioned the Election Commission about the number of issues it has solved yet, and said the suo moto should have been taken against the rigging instead.
It may be mentioned that SC discharged the contempt notice against Imran Khan on using the word “Sharamnak”.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Ijaz Chaudhry resumed the hearing today.
During the hearing, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali remarked that what will happen if the national leaders will not safeguard the dignity of the prestigious institutions.
He said if the court decides that the word “Saramnak” is not an abusive word, then it will set an example. He further said that a dictionary could be consulted for the meanings.
Justice Anwar Zaheer then suggested to review the reply and urged to take a respectable stance.
The PTI chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday submitted a detailed reply in which he insisted that the word “Sharamnak” was not abusive and he did not use it for the judiciary.
The reply comprising 21 pages submitted by Imran Khan through his counsels including Muhammad Anwar Qazi, Ahmed Awais, Shamsa Ali and Muhammad Waqar Rana requested the court to discharge the contempt notice issued to him on July 26, saying that he had not committed contempt.
The PTI chief contended that the word “Sharamnak”, used by him during his press conference of July 26, was never meant to be an abuse to anyone, not even for the DROs and Ros.
The court had issued a contempt notice to Imran Khan for his critical remarks regarding the judiciary. Earlier, on August 2, a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, rejected Imran Khan’s rejoinder submitted in the contempt case and ordered him to submit his detailed statement by August 28.
Hamid Khan, counsel for Imran Khan, had submitted in the rejoinder that Imran Khan had not started any campaign either to scandalise the court or to bring the judges into hatred, ridicule or contempt. On the contrary, he has always struggled to uphold dignity and independence of the Supreme Court and the judiciary in general.
The court, however, had noted that the way things were stated in the reply was not acceptable and the learned counsel for the respondent (Imran Khan) was directed to file a comprehensive reply by August 28.
The PTI chairman, in his detailed reply, contended that the criticism of ECP, DROs and ROs was directed at their performance which was in pursuance of their administrative duties.
Courtesy www.geo.tv