Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Justice Shaiq Usmani says that the PTI chairman made a big mistake and that he is now in danger.
Former Sindh High Court chief justice Shaiq Usmani talked about the legal consequences of Imran Khan’s threat to a judge. He said that the PTI chairman could be sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court, and if that happened, he would be banned from running for office for five years.
He said that Khan’s case was different from most contempt of court cases because he had named a judge and threatened to do something to her.
Justice Usmani (retired) also said that anyone could criticize a court’s decision, but it was against the law to criticize a judge. If that became the norm, no judge would be able to make decisions without fear.
He said that the PTI chairman had made a big mistake in his haste and was now in danger. Even if Khan apologized, the former SHC chief justice thought, it might not be enough to save him.
Qamar Zaman Kaira, a leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, asked if the government should do anything about threatening the IG and DIG in public when the higher judiciary had already done something about threatening a judicial officer. He asked if being an IG or DIG was less important than being a judge.
Talal Chaudhry, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said that people think Imran Khan is not just “Laadla,” but “Laadla Plus.” He said that it was the government’s job to make sure that government officials were safe. He thought that the government had to arrest Khan, not because it wanted to but because it had to.
Chaudhry said that Khan would be arrested whenever the government wanted to do so. In an interview, Punjab AG Ahmed Awais said that the PTI chairman should apologize if he had talked badly about a female judge.
He said Khan shouldn’t feel bad about apologizing if, during a public speech, he made a rude remark because he was upset. He also said that Khan could tell the high court what he plans to do in response to the show-cause notice.
In the meantime, former attorney general Shah Khawar explained in a news show on a private TV channel why the Islamabad High Court was right to pay attention to Imran Khan’s threatening comment about the female judge.
He said that the Supreme Court and high courts usually didn’t get angry when people said bad things about them and that contempt of court cases was often dropped after the alleged offender apologized.
But this time, Khawar said, a lower-level judge had been threatened. This made the lower-level judges feel unsafe, so the Islamabad High Court took note of it to boost the morale of the lower-level judges.
The former attorney general said that the only way to get out of the contempt of court charge was to show regret and apologize. He said Khan was a popular leader who should apologize as soon as possible for threatening the female judge after naming her by name. This would help him stay in politics.
