PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on contempt of court cases against SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.
The two ministers had criticised the judiciary's decision of granting former premier Nawaz Sharif bail on medical grounds. Both have tendered unconditional apologies to the court.
During the hearing, Chief Justice IHC Athar Minallah questioned the aviation minister for his comments against the medical board.
"Do you realise what you said? You went against the medical board," he said.
The aviation minister responded that it was a political statement, to which CJ Minallah said, "As the federal minister, you cannot give such statements".
IHC serves contempt of court notice to Firdous Ashiq Awan
"The prime minister is saying something else, you are saying something. You are pointing fingers at your own government," said Justice Minallah.
He also stated that the minister's statement falls under the category of contempt of court.
"You have tried to raise doubts about the judicial decision," said the chief justice.
The aviation minister responded that he only expressed doubt over the medical boards' decision to grant the former premier bail on medical grounds.
The verdict of the cases is to be announced on November 25.
Earlier, the IHC issued a show-cause notice to Awan for saying that the IHC decision “will open a floodgate of similar requests by prisoners suffering from various diseases”.
The notice observed that Awan’s statement was ‘unwarranted’ for a spokesperson of the federal government.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ