LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High
court (LHC) Monday expressed its annoyance at Pakistan Muslim League-N behaviour, asking former interior minister
Ahsan Iqbal what his
party leadership was up to.“If a verdict is pronounced in
your favour, then the judiciary is alright; otherwise, it is wrong.“You tell us, which other
party has made contemptuous remarks against judiciary?” Justice Atir Mahmood asked the PML-N leader.The three-member bench deferred
Contempt of
court proceedings against
Ahsan Iqbal till Sept 5, observing that the
court would examine his conduct during this period and decision regarding dropping of
Contempt notice would be taken afterwards.The bench, led by Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, was hearing a petition, filed against
Ahsan Iqbal, for delivering an anti-judiciary speech, targeting Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.The bench remarked that
Ahsan Iqbal sought an apology in the
court and later on became a “jiyala” of a leader, who had already launched a tirade against the judiciary. “Being a political worker, you should exercise more restraint than commoners,” the bench told the former minister.“You have praised yourself [more than concentrating on an apology] in
your response,” the bench told ex-minister.“Outside the court, you give statements that
your party is being targeted. On the one hand, you say you won’t make such statements, but outside the
court you repeat earlier statements,” the bench remarked.Justice Atir Mahmood remarked that Pakistan People’s
party (PPP) faced various excesses. But how many (contemptuous) statements were issued by them, asked the LHC judge.He observed that after 20 days (elections), everyone would come to know bitter realities of life.The judge remarked that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi appeared before the
court earlier, and the verdict in his case was made on merit.Last week,
Ahsan Iqbal had tendered an unconditional apology in the LHC during the hearing of the
Contempt case. To which, Justice Naqvi had remarked “your detailed answer does not contain the words required for an apology”.The
court had allowed him to make necessary amendments to his reply to the
Contempt of
court charges.At the outset of the hearing on Monday,
Ahsan Iqbal’s lawyer Azam Nazir Tarar requested the
court to drop the
Contempt proceedings against his client as he had tendered an unconditional apology. The court, however, rejected the request and questioned whether the former interior minister had accepted his mistake.The
court then postponed the proceedings until after elections, till Sept 5, saying his conduct would be monitored before discharging the
Contempt notice.The petition, filed against
Ahsan Iqbal and other PML-N leaders, stated that he (Ahsan) and Nawaz Sharif used derogatory language against the Supreme
court judges on April 25 and 23, respectively, and the same was aired by TV channels.
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