The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday withdrew its show-cause notices served to TV channels while accepting their unconditional apology and also disposed of a contempt case against Senator Faisal Vawda. A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa heard the contempt of court case against Faisal Vawda and TV channels. Justices including Irfan Saadat Khan, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal were also part of the bench. During proceedings, the TV channels submitted unconditional apology and assured that it would also be on-aired. TV channels’ lawyer Faisal Siddiqui said that they would also improve the self-accountability mechanism, adding that these remarks should have not been on-aired repeatedly in media.

The chief justice remarked that we didn’t want to send anyone to jail but everyone should have sense of responsibility. He remarked that the apology tendered by Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal was not given appropriately in the media. Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said that unconditional apology only reduces the severity of contempt. The court has decided that the intention is not seen in the case of contempt of court, he said. It may be mentioned here that the top court had served contempt of court notices to Faisal Vawda and Mustfa Kamal on anti-judiciary remarks. Show cause notices were also served to the TV channels for on-airing the remarks of two political figures. However, the two politicians had submitted unconditional apology to the court previously which was accepted.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan