ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday accepted an unconditional apology tendered by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan in the contempt of court proceeding against her, but the federal government’s spokesperson is still in hot water as the court issued a show cause notice to her for prejudicing the pending proceedings related to the petition seeking suspension of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sentence.
The IHC on Oct 30 issued a notice to Dr Awan under Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, according to which she maligned the court while giving a statement that the hearing of a petition on the release of Mr Sharif on Saturday’s evening was “a special dispensation”.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah reminded Ms Awan it was not a special dispensation, saying the court entertained the petition of Mr Sharif since a medical board formed by the government was of the view that his condition was “critical and serious”.
The judge said it was not expected from the PM’s special assistant that she would ridicule the judiciary and accuse it of providing relief only to powerful people.
PM’s special assistant asked to submit written reply by Nov 4
He asked her to recheck her observations, adding that she would find a number of cases in which verdicts were given in favour of poor and under-privileged people against powerful people.
He reminded her that in 2014 when the then government issued detention orders of some Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) workers the IHC had issued the order for their release. The court had heard the matter even though it was a Sunday, he added.
During the hearing Ms Awan tendered an unconditional apology for “scandalising the judiciary” which was accepted by the court.
Chief Justice Minallah told Dr Awan that she had committed contempt of court on two counts — one for ridiculing the court for entertaining the case as a “special dispensation” and one for trying to influence pending proceedings of the court related to Mr Sharif’s bail petition.
Dr Awan assured the court that she would be extremely careful in future and placed herself at the mercy of the court.
The court suspended the proceedings for a few minutes and met again to announce the order.
Chief Justice Minallah observed that “the courts have always exercised extreme restraint and ignored any matter relating to personal criticism of a judge”. He ordered the PM’s special assistant to satisfy the court that her statement made during the press conference was not intended to prejudice the pending proceedings before this court.
The court observed that “prejudicing pending proceedings or attempting to influence the court in a matter pending before it adversely affects the rights of fair trial of a litigant”.
The court withdrew the earlier show cause notice issued to Dr Awan on Oct 30 and issued a fresh show cause notice to her under Section 6 read with Section 5 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 for allegedly committing criminal contempt by, prima facie, attempting to prejudice the pending proceedings and influencing the court.
Subsequently, the court ordered, “the alleged contemnor (Dr Awan) is directed to submit her written reply on or before November 04, 2019. The office is directed to relist the case on November 05, 2019” and directed her to appear in person on the next date.
Dr Awan requested the court to adjourn the proceedings till Tuesday because of a cabinet meeting. But, the court rejected the request and said as it was a criminal proceeding, therefore, her presence was mandatory and for this she might skip the cabinet meeting.
Commenting on Dr Awan’s claim in the press conference that cases of poor people are not being dealt properly, Chief Justice Minallah asked her to visit district courts to examine the pathetic condition there because lower courts have never been among priorities of the government.
He said judges in district courts worked in makeshift arrangements. There was no proper arrangement for toilets in district courts’ premises, he said, adding in some district courts’ premises female judges and litigants even did not have a place to sit.
Meanwhile, on the direction of the IHC, Dr Awan visited the district courts of Islamabad.
The PM’s special assistant said that it was first time that she was visiting the district courts that too on the direction of the IHC chief justice. She said because she had never been nominated or faced any litigation in lower courts it was her first experience to be there. She said the situation in the district courts was pathetic and that she had just learnt problems of litigants.
Dr Awan, however, said she would play her role in improving the overall environment of the district courts of Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019