The Islamabad High Court has a liberal policy on the issue of contempt of court. Despite being dissatisfied with PTI chief Imran Khan’s reply, the court spent time on trying to impress upon him the need to realize the gravity of the situation. He was told that his intimidating remarks about district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry amounted to criminal contempt for which there can be no justification in law. Further that the remarks amounted to incitement and could lead to untoward incidents. The unfortunate episode in Masjid-e-NabvI made the dangerous consequences of incitement quite evident.
An unconditional apology by Mr Khan could have settled the matter at the first hearing on August 31. Presumably the former PM thought that an apology was likely to damage his image as a dauntless party leader. Mr Khan was therefore unwilling to go beyond taking back his words if they were regarded as inappropriate. In other words he thought he had committed no wrong but was ready to address what he considered misapprehensions. As usual Mr Khan launched a counterattack, accusing the IHC’s deputy registrar of picking words selectively from his August 20 speech. Giving the issue a political touch he said the court’s proceedings were being used for “political point-scoring to the federal government’s advantage”. The court’s advice fell on deaf ears. Despite this the IHC gave Mr Khan another chance “to answer thoughtfully or else the court will proceed with the matter.” This led to some of PTI’s opponents to criticize the court for treating him differently from others sentenced for contempt.
Mr Khan however continued to be adamant on his second appearance on Thursday also. Earlier he had said that he would become even more dangerous if disqualified or sent to jail. The past few months show that by acting rashly he has only harmed himself and his party. He is no more a PM, most of his allies have left him, his chief of staff is in custody, and few among his close supporters are willing to support him openly.
IHC has announced it would charge sheet IK on September 22. The PTI chief has two weeks to decide if he is willing to apologise unconditionally or put his political future at stake by becoming still more dangerous.
