Babar Awan says SC 'rushing' in his case
12 July, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Former law minister Babar Awan said before the Supreme Court that he had been requesting the court for the past six months to hear his application regarding suspension of his licence, but his application was not being admitted for hearing, whereas the bench was rushing in the contempt of court case against him. Resuming arguments in the contempt of court case against him, Awan said there was an impression that the apex court of Pakistan was only focusing on contempt cases. A two-member bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed, heard the contempt of court case against the former law minister for addressing a press conference against the court last year. During the hearing, Babar expressed concern over an increasing number of contempt cases, saying the number of contempt proceedings in the apex court of Pakistan was more than that in any other country's courts. "The apex court of Pakistan is not a court of contempt. It's a court of constitution," he added. He urged the bench to take notice of the public rallies and press conferences in favour of judiciary because under Article 204, influencing the court's process was also contempt of court. When Babar was giving his argument, the court asked him to avoid repetition. Upon this, the former law minister said that no one was a holy cow in Pakistan and asked why he should not talk about the politicians who were expressing solidarity with judiciary by arranging rallies and observing sit-ins. "The case against me is that I have given a statement that the father-in-law of a sitting judge hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto," he added. Babar said that one of the judges on the bench had said that even if others were to pardon him, he would not, adding that a judge's oath restricted him from making such remarks. During the hearing, harsh words were exchanged between the judges and Babar. When the former law minister wanted to read out the whole of a judgement in favour of his case, the court asked him to read only the relevant paragraph. Babar told the bench he would read the judgement in full as the whole of it was relevant. End.
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