ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing into contempt of court charges against former law minister Babar Awan till April 10, due to the absence of Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq.
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 was the prosecutor in the case.
The attorney-general is currently in Quetta where he is present for 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 rendered 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 speaking 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.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2012.
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