ISLAMABAD: “Honour and shame is in the hands of Allah Almighty; I am under no pressure and no-one can disgrace me,” said Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja on Friday as he took up a petition filed by Geo TV.

The Supreme Court judge’s observations came after Advocate Taufiq Asif told him that banners that were critical of his decision to continue hearing the case had appeared, almost overnight, in the capital.

The three-judge bench headed by Justice Khawaja, which took up the matter near the end of the day on Friday, explained that since one of the members of bench had to catch a flight to Karachi, the matter would be heard next on Monday.

One of the day’s highlights was the presence in court of Mubasher Lucman, who hosts the ‘Khara Such’ programme on ARY News, where the allegations against Justice Khawaja were first made. However, he was not heard during the brief proceedings on Friday.

Observers from the legal fraternity, however, feel that there may be a change in the bench that finally hears the case from Monday.

They said that either a larger bench may be constituted or one of the members shuffled.

“The truth will prevail,” Justice Khawaja observed when Taufiq Asif, a former President of Rawalpindi High Court Bar Association, brought the matter to his notice. Asif said that these banners were defamatory to the honourable judge and, by extension, defamatory to the apex court, which was unacceptable to the legal community.

“I have no concern with these banners and I don’t mind if they are displayed for 30 days,” Justice Khawaja said.

On Thursday, the judge had dismissed objections over his fitness to hear the case with an observation that it was an individual’s conscience that determined whether a judge should sit and hear a case or not.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2014