Supreme Court takes notice of Babar Awan’s derogatory statements against judiciary; Memo-gate case

Supreme Court takes notice of Babar Awan’s derogatory statements against judiciary; Memo-gate case

Islamabad: (December 19) taking notice of Babar Awan’s statements over the Memogate case the apex court has asked for an explanation from the Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq. The Supreme Court has asked for a clear answer on
whether the former Law Minister was representing government while giving derogatory remarks against judiciary before the media.

Heading a nine-member bench during the hearing of the Memogate case on Monday, Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should have taken notice of the December 1 press conference
held by Awan in which he lashed out against the judiciary.

During a press conference on December 1, Awan had said that by ordering the judicial probe, the Supreme Court had denied a bipartisan and bicameral parliamentary committee on national security its right to hold an inquiry into
the scandal, which has been seen as the latest rift between the country’s political and military leadership.

The CJ commenting on the press conference said: “We can suspend the secretary who was present in the press conference.” He added that the government functionaries ridiculed the judiciary in flagrant violation of the dignity of
the court.

Justice Jawad S Khwaja observed that the judiciary was an independent organ of the state and was answerable to the people not the parliament.

When the chief justice asked the attorney general to move a contempt case to bring to book the people involved in the press conference, he said that he was restricted by the rules of business on his role in contempt proceedings.

The court asked him to arrange for the recording of the press conference to be played inside the courtroom so everyone could see what was said of the judiciary. The CJ also criticised former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani’s counsel
Asma Jehangir by saying that lawyers such as Jehangir watched the judiciary’s criticism in silence.

Jehangir, in reply, told the court: “I haven’t been watching television for the last seven days; still I condemn such an attitude.”

When Advocate Rashid A Rizvi took the rostrum to represent Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, the chief justice asked him to argue on the maintainability of the petitions filed under Article 184(3) of the
Constitution. The CJ observed the court in its December 1 order had raised the question of maintainability.

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Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 19 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry