Contempt charges: AGP's absence in Supreme Court delays Awan's indictment
Awan appeared before the three-member bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. Awan’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar said that according to the rules, the Supreme Court could not indict Awan in the absence of the attorney general, who is the prosecutor in the case.
The attorney general is currently in Quetta where he is present before a hearing headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Zafar told the media outside the court building that an unconditional apology option was also being considered. He was optimistic that the court would drop the proceedings after Awan would render an apology. He also cited constitutional provisions in favour of his arguments. Responding to a question, he claimed that the court would continue its contempt proceedings if it found the apology hollow.
Sources close to Babar Awan told The Express Tribune that he asked his attorney to seek forgiveness for him while tendering an unconditional apology. When contacted, Awan avoided replying to the question, saying that his counsel was supposed to talk to the media.
Awan will be indicted for addressing a press conference against an apex court injunction passed on December 1, 2011 over the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Memogate scandal.
He had claimed that by ordering the Memogate probe, the apex court had denied the right of a bipartisan and bicameral parliamentary committee on national security to hold an inquiry into the scandal. However, in his written reply submitted before the court through his lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar, Awan was keen to emphasise that he had no intention of criticising the judiciary.
COMMENTS (8)
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He called spade a spade.
@logic Europe.
Completely illogical. I can only hope you are joking here.
@Anserali Khan:
Thank god for that.
He should me made an example for all other lawyers and politicians who deliberately show contempt of the court.
sure he ridiculed the respected Judiciary
sir,,Awan has told the truth.Judiciary is biased and inefficient. It does not take notice of rampant corruption in the judicial system but is more interested in ant govt politics.We need brave men like Awan ,may he become party president
Mr Awan has passed un-called for comments in respect of the Supreme Court and ridiculed the respected judiciary.I pray he should be held in contempt and I hope he is disqualified from holding public office
This egoistical politician was too inflated with inordinate I-Am-Ness. He successfully camouflaged his agenda of personal aggrandizement & political gains. He threw dust in the eyes of the public with his pseudo-intellectualism. In fact, he has neither any loyalty to the party which gave him such a tremendous boost in his career nor has any respect for the most sacred institution of Pakistan which unfortunately he works with as a lawyer. The contempt notice from Supreme Court due to his sacrilegious remarks & his demotion from party positions along-with inevitable ouster of his votaries from the key posts testify the fact that he was disliked by all alike because of his self-pursuing objectives. We are glad to see his natural downfall.