Timeline: Prime ministers summoned by SC
Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives to attend groundbreaking ceremony of a maternity hospital in Attock on November 5. PHOTO: TWITTER/PTI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Peshawar Army Public School (APS) suo motu case. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, had summoned the premier to inquire about the incumbent government's inaction against the culprits of the APS massacre.
The premier was summoned at around 10am and had arrived just before noon, along with Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
With today's case hearing, Imran Khan has become the third prime minister in the country's history to be summoned by the apex court.
Yousuf Raza Gilani - January 2012
Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was summoned by the apex court in January 2012 for failing to comply with the SC order to reopen money-laundering cases involving then-president Asif Ali Zardari, dating back to the 1990s.
It had been reported that Gilani had driven a white Toyata Land Cruiser to the court but was later asked by the SC to not bring his car inside the premises for the following hearings. The apex court had directed Gilani to leave his car at the court compound like any other ordinary citizen of the country.
A month later in February, during the hearing of the case, Justice Nasir ul Mulk - heading the seven-judge panel - had remarked that a trial must be initiated against Gilani for his failure to comply with the court’s order issued on December 16, 2009, for sending a request to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against Zardari.
The former premier was indicted for contempt of court on February 13 and later in June disqualified from his position.
Raja Pervez Ashraf - August 2012
In August 2012, then prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was ordered by the top court to appear in person for his failure to reopen corruption investigations against then-president Zardari.
Judge Asif Saeed Khosa had sought an explanation for Ashraf's failure, especially considering when his predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified from his position after being found guilty of contempt of court, over the same issue.
A month prior to the proceedings, the court had in July given time to Ashraf to write to Switzerland asking it to reopen the multimillion-dollar graft probes against Zardari.
The SC's move to summon Ashraf was the latest episode in what many called a long-running standoff between the country's government and its judiciary.