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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan resumed the hearing for the contempt of court charges against Babar Awan on Monday, under a three member bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, DawnNews reported.
The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri submitted an adjournment motion on behalf of the Attorney General of Pakistan Molvi Anwar ul Haq. The motion said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is hearing cases in Quetta this week and the Attorney General would be needed to be present in the hearings.
Whereas, lawyer for Babar Awan Barrister Ali Zafar took the stance that contempt of court indictments cannot take place in the absence of the attorney general.
Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali said that the court is authorised to indict in the absence of the Attorney General of Pakistan. He added that the court should not be perceived as playing the role of prosecutor.
The hearing for the case has been adjourned till April 10 and the former federal law minister will be indicted on the next hearing.
The Supreme Court (SC) had issued a show cause notice to former law minister Babar Awan on March 8.
SC had taken up the contempt charges against Mr Awan for his utterances on Dec 1 last year soon after the apex court had ordered an investigation into the memo case by a one-man commission headed by Tariq Khosa, a former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency.
Awan’s law practicing license has already been cancelled by the SC.
At an earlier hearing on Feb 20, the former law minister had submitted a written statement expressing regrets over the contents of the press conference and saying there was no intention or malice to ridicule the judiciary.
