The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday granted Imran Khan one more week to submit a detailed reply in the contempt of court case presently pending in court against him.
A five-judge larger bench of the apex court, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, heard the contempt case against Imran.
Earlier, the federal government, through the interior ministry, had approached the SC to initiate contempt proceedings against the former prime minister for violating its May 25 order wherein the PTI was restricted from holding its Azadi March near Peshawar Mor between the H-9 and G-9 areas of Islamabad.
However, Imran and his supporters had made their way towards D-Chowk, prompting the government to call in Pakistan Army for the security of the capital’s Red Zone.
On May 26, the same five-judge larger bench had taken up an application filed by Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali over violation of the court’s May 25 order.
The majority judges namely CJP Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had shown restrain and on June 1 sought reports from director-generals of Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, as well as IG Islamabad, interior secretary and others over the alleged involvement of the PTI leaders in instigating party workers to reach Islamabad’s D-Chowk in violation of the court’s order.
However, in the previous hearing, the court had expressed that it was “disappointed” with the PTI leadership for breaching the court’s trust by violating its May 25, 2022 order.
Even during the hearing of the presidential reference earlier in November, CJP Bandial had said the judges were “deeply disturbed” that the court’s trust was breached.
