Contempt case against Firdous: IHC orders to submit reply till Nov 11

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday has ordered Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan to submit written reply in contempt of court case till November 11. During the hearing, the special assistant once again tendered her apology to the court which was rejected by the bench. The court also refused to allow her to skip the case hearings. LHC Chief Justice Athar Minullah remarked that when the government representatives himself commented about deal, then who will deal? He also said that the government only can deal. Later, the court directed the special assistant to reappear in IHC on November 11 with her written reply. On Friday, the IHC has accepted Firdous Ashiq Awan’s apology in a contempt of court case for criticizing and politicize the court. However, the IHC issued her a fresh show cause notice for trying to influence the court’s proceedings. The court directed Firdous Ashiq Awan to submit written reply on Monday and appear before court on Tuesday. A bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case and Firdous Ashiq Awan appeared before court Friday morning. During the heading, Justice Minallah said that Awan had an important role in the government and was the special assistant of a prime minister who valued rule of law. The chief justice remarked that she commented on a matter that was still in court, which is why she had been issued a notice. “You can comment on me and that won’t make a difference to me, but you compromised the petitioner’s right to fair trial with your comments,” he said. Justice Minallah told Awan that she had committed contempt of court on two counts — for ridiculing the court for entertaining the case as a special dispensation and for trying to influence a pending proceeding of the court related to the bail petition for Nawaz. “I have complete faith in my judges, he said, adding that they have the highest rate of disposing of cases in the past year. You committed contempt of court by saying that you wished the poor also had access to such justice but we are sitting here for the common man, said the judge. We are only answerable to God, in whose name we took this oath, he said. Awan assured the court that she would be extremely careful in the future and placed herself at the mercy of the court. She tendered unconditional apology over her remarks. Later, the court accepted the SPAM’s apology in ridiculing the court but issued another notice for trying to influence over court proceedings. The special assistant was issued a show cause notice in the case on Thursday. The court accepted her unconditional apology Friday morning. It is pertinent to mention here that she had commented on a court case against former premier Nawaz Sharif and said a “special court” had been convened in the evening to provide him “relief”.