ISLAMABAD, May 31: A five-member special bench of the Supreme Court will commence from Monday hearing on a complaint filed by the government and a contempt of court petition on alleged derogatory remarks made against the government, the military and senior judges during a recent seminar held on the apex court premises.
Headed by Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, the bench will comprise Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad.
The special bench will sit at 1pm for four days consecutively after proceedings of a full court hearing the petition of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry challenging the filing of a reference against him.
On Thursday, the government’s letter and the petition were placed before a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, but the court referred the issue to the five-member bench in view of its significance.
In its letter, the Ministry of Interior had requested the apex court to take notice of “misbehaviour” of lawyers and “derogatory remarks” made against the government, departments and senior judges during a seminar on the Supreme Court premises also addressed by the chief justice.
An interior ministry spokesman had accused the lawyers of violating the Supreme Court directives, saying Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas had allowed using the Supreme Court auditorium on the condition that the occasion would not be used for any political speeches or character assassination.
Also, addressing officers of the Jhelum Garrison on Wednesday, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had described the tone and language used at the Supreme Court Bar Association seminar as humiliating the armed forces and the judiciary and said the speeches made and slogans raised in the seminar were an assault on the apex court.
Shahid Orakzai had filed the contempt of court petition against the SCBA for holding “political activity and misusing the Supreme Court auditorium” in the name of the seminar.
Meanwhile, Barrister Dr Mohammad Ali Saif, a member of the panel of lawyers defending the government before the full court, also moved a petition seeking restraining orders against the chief justice for allegedly participating in politics.
Advocate Ahmed Raza Qasuri, the counsel of the petitioner, invited the attention of the two-member bench hearing the government’s letter on activities at the seminar but was told that the petition should have been placed before the full court hearing the petition of the chief justice.
The petitioner prayed the court to direct SCBA president Munir A. Malik, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Hamid Khan, Abrar Hussain and Mirza Aziz Akhtar Baig to appear before a disciplinary committee of their respective bar councils for violating the code of conduct of their legal profession and allegedly committing acts of sedition under Section 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.
He also sought directions to bind the chief justice not to violate the code of conduct of the judges till the pendency of the reference before the Supreme Judicial Council.
The petition said volatile political slogans were raised by the participants inside the Supreme Court auditorium and by people outside the Supreme Court Building watching live proceedings of the seminar. It said slogans were raised against the armed forces in a shameful and disgusting manner.
