News
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Non-implementation of Supreme Court’s order in NRO caseGilani faces contempt charges
* Court issues show-cause notice to PM, orders him to personally appear before court on 19th
* Justice Khosa says words ‘dishonest’, ‘corrupt’ for PM misreported in media
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday issued show-cause notice to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to appear in court on January 19 to explain as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for not implementing the court order of December 16, 2009 on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
A seven-member bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed noted that in January 10, 2012, order, “We have asked Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq to implement para 178 of the judgement in Dr Mubashir Hassan case and six options were given for the exercise of the said directions in para 6 of the January 10, 2012 order. The attorney general was specifically directed to communicate it to the relevant authorities. Today (Monday) the attorney general appeared before the bench and informed that although the order of the court was communicated to all the relevant authorities, including the prime minister, no instruction was given to him to communicate it to the court.”
The court said as a first step, a show-cause notice under Section 17(2) of Ordinance 5, 2003 and Article 204 of the constitution be issued to the prime minister so that he could explain as to why he shall not be proceeded against for contempt of court for failing to comply with the court’s direction. Since it is a show-cause notice, the prime minister shall personally appear on the next hearing on January 19, 2012, the court held.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa clarified that the court in its verdict had not said that the prime minister was a dishonest and a corrupt man.
Expressing concern over print and electronic media’s reports, he said that no one had even bothered to read the court’s January 10 order.
Justice Khosa said that the office of the PM was very respectable and they (judges) were very careful in using the words in their orders as the court had stated that prima facie, PM might not be honest to the oath of his office.
On one occasion, the attorney general submitted that the court should refer the matter to the high court for the compliance of its order.
Justice Ejaz Afzal said that it was the preliminary stage as the court had asked him to seek instruction from the relevant authorities about the court’s six options and the referring of the matter to the Islamabad High Court would be next stage.
However, the attorney general said that he did not receive any directive from the authorities concerned, upon which Justice Nasir observed, “We have decided to issue show-cause notice for initiating contempt notice to the PM.”
The court issued show cause notice to the prime minister to explain as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him under the contempt law and personally summoned him for January 19.
It is to be noted that after the restoration of judiciary, the court had issued show cause notices to several PPP leaders, like Rehman Malik, Qamar Zaman Qaira, Taj Haider, Sharjeel Memom and Babar Awan but the court had not initiated contempt proceedings against them so far.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk