Isn’t it contempt of court for raising questions over conduct of IHC CJ?
Some journalists raised questions regarding the conduct of the IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah in Imran Khan contempt case.
After the hearing of a contempt of court case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, some journalists have raised questions regarding the conduct of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah.
The IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah, in the previous hearing, gave a chance to PTI chief Imran Khan to submit his reply again after seven days in the contempt case as the politician failed to satisfy the court through his previous reply.
The IHC’s move was criticised by the PTI critics who have been continuously targeting the judiciary for giving relaxations to Khan despite his contemptuous remarks against judge Zeba Chaudhry.
Senior journalist and anchorperson Najam Sethi said in a TV program that the IHC CJ Athar Minallah expressed sorrow over Khan’s reply in the contempt case ‘on a personal basis’. He further said that he was wondering why the IHC CJ had ‘personally’ expressed sorrow over Khan’s reply.
“Is becoming popular is a personal issue and becoming unpopular a non-personal matter? I don’t get it. Obviously, I am disappointed over his [IHC CJ’s] remarks as to what kind of remark it is. Ok, let’s move on, may be, they [Athar Minallah and Imran Khan] are friends to each other.”
Contempt cases: Courts have a history of giving multiple opportunities to accused
Sethi further said, “If they are friends, then it cannot be revealed in an open court’s hearing as it will force people to think about the judges for being biased.”
عمران خان کی چیف جسٹس ہائی کورٹ سے دوستی ہے نجم سیٹھی کا جھوٹا الزام یہ کلپ کسی طرح اسلام آباد ہائی کورٹ تک پہنچا دیں pic.twitter.com/UgdMNWAt1f
— Zαყαɳ Iƙ (@Zyyan_Ali) September 1, 2022
In another video, two senior investigation journalists, Umar Cheema and Azaz Syed were discussing the IHC proceedings in the contempt case against Imran Khan.
Azaz Syed said, “I want to give you information with full responsibility that IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah and Imran Khan had talked on telephone and had met each other on multiple occasions even when the PTI chief was the prime minister. It might be a meeting as a state head. I am not saying that the IHC CJ had called Imran Khan on telephone by himself but I know, they both talked on telephone many times.”
To this, Umar Cheema said that it was an unusual think which raised many eyebrows.
“I am revealing with confirmation & full responsibility that Imran Khan & Chief Justice Athar MinAllah are friends & would talk to each other on phone even when he was PM & Athar was CJ” Azaz Syed
— Shama Junejo (@ShamaJunejo) September 1, 2022
Analysts questioned whether the journalists’ comments on Imran Khan’s contempt case should be considered as contempt of court as they have raised questions regarding the conduct of the IHC CJ’s conduct.
They said that the mainstream media channels and social media made an uproar that the IHC has knelt down but in the contempt of court case, the SC had given three opportunities to former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities.
