Contempt cases: No PTI leader appears before ECP bench

ISLAMABAD: The unexpected complete no-show by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and two other accused or their counsel in the contempt of Election Commission of Pakistan and chief election commissioner cases on Tuesday left the bench to adjourn within a couple of minutes.

The no-show is attributed to Imran’s maiden appearance the same day in some other cases in the capital. While PTI Secretary General Asad Umar faces contempt proceedings by the ECP, Imran and PTI Senior Vice-President Ch Fawad Hussain also face similar cases in relation to alleged contempt of the electoral body and the chief election commissioner.

The cases are pending since August last with little progress made so far. The commission member from Sindh, Nisar Durrani, who heads a four-member bench, on seeing the accused and the counsel missing, remarked, “Let us pass an order”. However, afterwards, no headway could be made in the cases.

The electoral body had issued notices to Imran, Asad and Fawad last year for using ‘intemperate, non-parliamentary language and contemptuous remarks’ against the commission and Chief Election Commission Sikandar Sultan Raja on different occasions. The three have contended that the commission is not a court and hence cannot hear contempt cases. They have filed replies to the notices, which are almost similar. Asad was the only one to appear before the commission bench on February 1 and was directed to submit a reply to the show cause notice. The reply containing an apology was filed by Asad’s counsel, however, afterwards, he retracted and adopted the position taken by the two other accused.

Advocate Faisal Fareed, who is the brother of Fawad, while appearing before the bench as counsel for Imran and Fawad, had filed objections to the case and contended therein that under Section 11 (3) of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003, any member whose contempt has been alleged and proceedings initiated, is barred from sitting as adjudicator for his own cause.

Later, Asad also filed a similar reply to the notice, which included an apology, while he announced retracting through a video statement within 24 hours.