PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the repeated failure of federal information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and former special assistant to the prime minister Firdous Ashiq Awan to appear before it during the hearing into two petitions accusing them of committing contempt of a special court, which sentenced retired General Pervez Musharraf to death for high treason.

Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Mussarat Hilali observed that notices were issued to Chaudhry Fawad and Firdous Ashiq thrice but they didn’t turn up, so why warrants for their arrest should not be issued.

The lawyers for the two alleged contemners assured the court that their clients would appear before it on the next hearing.

They insisted that their clients didn’t know that they had to appear before the court.

The bench observed that it would mention certain directions regarding them in its detailed order sheet, which would be released later.

Warns warrants for their arrest will be issued

The bench was hearing two identical petitions filed by advocates Malik Ajmal Khan and Syed Azizuddin Kakakhel under Article 204 of the Constitution read with the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003.

The petitioners charged federal ministers Barrister Farogh Naseem and Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, prime minister’s special assistant Shehzad Akbar, former aide Firdous Ashiq Awan and former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan for committing contempt of the special court after it had convicted Pervez Musharraf in 2019.

The petitioners claimed that the said five respondents had leveled different allegations against the President of the special court Late Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who was Chief Justice of PHC, and tried to scandalize him.

The bench observed that the thee respondents, including Barrister Farough Naseem, Shehzad Akbar and Anwar Mansoor, had already tendered unconditional apology, and it was up to the court to decide whether to accept their plea or not.

Justice Mussarat Hilali observed that contemptuous language against a sitting chief justice was intolerable.

The bench observed that by not appearing before the court, the two respondents had been committing contempt of that court.

Additional attorney general Amir Javed appeared for the federal government and said law minister Barrister Farogh Naseem, Anwar Mansoor and Shehzad Akbar had earlier appeared before the court in the case.

The lawyers representing the two respondents said they came to know about the hearing only a day earlier.

They added that it was not clear whether their clients had to appear through the counsel or in person.

The counsel assured the bench that the two respondents would appear in person on next date.

The bench fixed Oct 19 for the next hearing.

Besides prosecuting the contemners, petitioner Azizuddin has also requested the court to disqualify the prime minister and other respondents from holding any public office for committing the contempt of the court.

The two petitioners said the special court had declared Pervez Musharraf a proclaimed offender after affording him many opportunities but he didn’t turn up and the case was proceeded leading to his conviction and award of death sentence to him on Dec 17, 2019.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2021