The PTI Chairman tries to speak in the court but the bench observed that they had heard his lawyers in the case.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Sept 9, 2022) Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday turned down the reply of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan submitted in contempt of court case.
A five-member bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar heard the contempt case against the former PM.
The bench announced the verdict reserved earlier after hearing the arguments of both sides.
The court held that PTI chairman Imran Khan would be indicted in contempt case on September 22.
Hearing the case earlier in the day, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had observed that Imran Khan’s response to the court’s show-cause notice seemingly justified contempt of the judiciary as the submitted answers showed “no remorse or regret”.
Imran Khan also appeared before the court along with his lawyers and at one stage he got up and said that he wanted to speak.
But the bench denied his request, observing that his lawyers had already been heard.
Khan is in trouble after he allegedly made threatening remarks about Additional Sessions Judge, Islamabad, Zeba Chaudhry during his speech in Islamabad.
The PTI Chairman on Wednesday had submitted a second reply to IHC after the court termed his first response "unsatisfactory."
Khan also moved a miscellaneous application before the court on Thursday morning and sought eeking permission to submit written arguments in the case.
Imran Khan argued that the high court cannot exercise suo moto jurisdiction as per the Constitution. The arguments for the inadmissibility of the contempt case should be kept on record.
On August 31, the IHC had given the PTI Chairman another chance to submit a "well-considered" response in the contempt proceedings initiated against him for his controversial remarks about Judge Zeba Chaudhry.
The PTI Chairman in his reply expressed deep regrets over his unintentional utterances and said that he could not think of speaking anything against the judiciary.
He said that his words were not meant to hurt the feelings of Judge Zeba Chaudhry. "The utterances were never meant to interfere with or in any way influence the course of the administration of justice," he said.
The former premier further said that he had great regard for the lower judiciary and that he supported women’s rights in Pakistan.
