ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted former prime minister Imran Khan an opportunity to submit a second response after declaring as “disappointing” his original reply in a contempt of court case registered against him following a speech in which he purportedly threatened police officers and a magistrate.
A five-judge bench which took up the matter ordered the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chair to submit a “well-considered” response within seven days before it adjourned proceedings until September 8.
A show-cause notice was served on Khan last week after he threatened to sue Zeba Chaudhry, a junior judge, at an Islamabad rally on August 20. During his speech, Khan had complained about sedition charges Shehbaz Gill, his chief of staff, faces for allegedly inciting mutiny in the army.
“We will not spare you,” he said in the speech that named the chief of Islamabad police and the judge involved in the case against the aide. “We will sue you.”
The contempt charge comes on top of charges under an anti-terror law that police filed against Khan over the same televised speech.
Meanwhile, Islamabad police devised what it called a “special security plan” for the court ahead of the hearing.
“Only individuals with permission from the IHC will be allowed on the court’s premises and alternative routes have been arranged for residents of the area,” a tweet issued through its official read on Tuesday.
چیئرمین عمران خان اسلام آباد ہائیکورٹ پہنچ گئے۔
pic.twitter.com/CPmiPXQevx— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 31, 2022
In his original, written response to the show-cause notice in the case, Khan claimed he was unaware that Chaudhry, an additional sessions judge, was a member of the judiciary when he voiced the remarks about her.
Khan said his words at the rally “were uttered spontaneously without any previous motive and malice only to emphasize that the rule of law should be strictly followed in the matter of Shahbaz Gill by the authorities.”
However, stopping short of offering any apology, he said he would be willing to “take back” his remarks “if they were inappropriate.”
Expressing his disappointment at the response, Chief Justice Athar Minallah chided Khan’s counsel, Hamid Khan, saying he did not expect him to submit such a reply.
Noting that all political parties should believe in upholding the law and the Constitution, he said: “The response submitted [by the PTI chair] was not of the stature of a political leader like Khan.”
Stressing he had hoped the former prime minister would boost the court’s confidence through his written response, the justice appeared to rubbish Khan’s offer of “taking back” his words by saying: “Just as time that has passed cannot come back, words uttered through one’s tongue [also] cannot be taken back.”
