After two hearings in the contempt of court case against him, former Prime Minister Imran Khan has failed to do what would more than likely get him off the hook with the Islamabad High Court: issue an unconditional apology. He has instead chosen a route that most would not, nor would their lawyers advise them to take: presumably attempt to explain his position and prove to the court that while he regrets the comments made when he vowed to take “action” against a magistrate judge, it was not a threat and therefore did not warrant an apology. This is a slippery slope and the IHC has been kind enough to provide with not one but two opportunities to furnish a reply that would satisfy the court. He now reappears on September 22nd when he will be indicted.
Imran Khan currently faces a plethora of cases against him and while the others are unlikely to end his political career, the one he is apparently approaching with the nonchalance usually attributed to a rowdy high school senior sitting in the principal’s office for skipping class, could be his undoing. The IHC also seems to be at the end of its patience, unwilling to allow Imran Khan to speak at the last hearing and directing him to reconsider his reply to the court once more and perhaps even for the last time. Perhaps it is bad legal advice, maybe an expectation that the court’s mollycoddling will continue even when the prosecution is the court itself this time or just plainly his ego at work. Whatever the rationale behind this recalcitrance, it is an unfortunate reality that the law around contempt of court requires the defendant to apologise and throw oneself on the mercy of the court.
There is an argument to be made and a debate to be had amongst lawmakers, since they are the primary affectees of the law, to make the contempt of court law less strict in nature and opaque in application with the flexibility for a defendant to have an option other than just submitting a contrite and unconditional apology for the offence perceived by the court as contempt. But that is for another day, currently; Imran Khan would do well to do what is necessary and save his skin instead of playing with fire.
