LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Friday adjourned till March 28 the hearing of a petition seeking ban on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and a high treason case against its chief Altaf Hussain.
As the proceedings commenced, petitioners’ counsels Azhar Siddique and Aftab Virk said that MQM counsel Asma Jahangir made contemptuous remarks about the case on a TV programme. They said that Jahangir’s remarks about the court verdict banning media coverage of Hussain’s activities were objectionable.
They submitted recording of the television programme to the court. They alleged that it was a routine for Jahangir to make remarks about court orders.
When asked to explain her conduct, Jahangir tendered a verbal apology for her remarks about the order. The court directed her to submit a written apology for her remarks, but she refused. She said the court order banning media coverage of MQM chief activities was defective and she did not accept it at heart. She said, “I am making a verbal apology not for the judges sitting on the bench but for the dignity of the institution (judiciary).”
Jahangir said she did not trust the bench hearing the case. In response, a judge on the bench said, “You have double standards, as you do not do what you say. You are committing contempt of court and you should submit an apology in writing.”
She refused to submit a written apology, saying she did not want to write something that her conscious did not like.
The court adjourned the case after lawyers started raising slogans against each other.
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