‘Contempt of court charge a bad precedent’

Defendant says judges who took oath after emergency also abided by the PCO.

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar’s counsel has contended in the Supreme Court that it would not be setting a good precedent to issue contempt of court notices to PCO judges since members of the bench may also be charged with contempt of court after retirement.

The justices who were sworn in anew after the Chief Justice was restored are present in the Supreme Court but Justice (retd) Dogar is deliberately being targeted and discriminated against, the former chief justice’s counsel, Ibrahim Satti, submitted before the bench on Friday.

This seems to be a veiled reference to Justice Tariq Pervez who was appointed chief justice of the Peshawar High Court by the former chief justice Dogar during Musharraf’s government. However, he took oath under the Constitution after the rule of law was restored.

“The judges who took fresh oath after the emergency was revoked had also abided by the PCO,” Satti argued.

He said that the November 3 directive issued by the Supreme Court was signed by six justices and not seven. “This means you admit to the existence of the directive of November 3, 2007,” Justice Khilji Arif Hussain remarked. The court has adjourned the case till January 17.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2011.