Contempt case: Court allows Daniyal Aziz to produce witness

Court declined another petition to summon another witness

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday allowed Minister for Privatisation Daniyal Aziz to produce one defence witness to establish his case in the contempt of court proceedings against him.

Advocate Ali Raza, counsel for the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) leader, had requested the apex court to summon Kashif Jabbar, the producer of a leading English daily, as his client's witness.

A three-judge bench hearing the case, headed by Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, however, declined another plea to summon the Director-General Monitoring Haji Adam as a defencee witness as Adam has already appeared before the court as a witness for the prosecution.

The hearing of the case has now been adjourned until next Tuesday.



Earlier, the minister had produced veteran politician Javed Hashmi’s news conference to establish his defence in the contempt case against him.

Aziz had requested the Supreme Court to summon the transcript of senior politician Javed Hashmi’s speech in which he had referred to PTI chief Imran Khan’s statement that the judiciary “would topple the PML-N government in 2014”.

In the news conference, Hashmi had referred to Imran’s statement where he said that [former chief justice of Pakistan] Tassaduq Hussain Jillani would leave and then Nasir-ul-Mulk would be sworn in.

"He would [listen to us] and dissolve the assemblies. And after that, there would be elections in 90 days. During that time, he said, the Supreme Court will take over and then we [the PTI] will win,” Hashmi had alleged.