Judges’ key supporter to defend abusive TV show against judiciary
By: Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: A top PPP leader and an icon of the lawyers’ movement will appear before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to defend the recent abusive and vulgar attacks on the judiciary and the Chief Justice of Pakistan, it is reliably learnt.
After many programmes on some news TV channels airing baseless allegations against the judiciary and the judges personally, IHC had issued an injective order barring all media outlets to abstain from airing or publishing any defamatory material against the superior judiciary or the judges.
The order passed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui clearly held that judges are not immune and can be held accountable but only by using the methods elaborated in the constitution. The order had declared that a judge had no forum to clarify his position on any allegation levelled in the media or on any other forum except in the Supreme Judicial Council.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has informed the court that it has conveyed the IHC orders to all broadcasters. However, despite all this, a highly malicious programme was aired on a private TV channel on October 26, 2012, just one day before Eidul Azha, and was repeated in prime-time hours next day. The IHC took suo moto cognisance of the highly malicious and defamatory programme mostly containing abuses and vulgar language along with baseless allegations.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui passed an order declaring that this malicious programme was not only aired despite the court’s injunction but was also repeated in prime-time hours next day so there was no chance of any mistake and same was done to malign and attack the institution of judiciary intentionally.
The contents of the programme are so vulgar, rude, offensive and abusive that they cannot be reproduced here. However, it is ironical that a person who was an icon of the historic lawyers’ movement and was the front runner of the movement for the restoration of judiciary will now defend those who are attacking the prestigious institution in order to save the skin of some powerful and mighty people.
These forces want to demolish the only independent institution of the state for their vested interests and are spending huge amounts to achieve their objectives and most of the people, even those with a bright past are falling prey to their motives.
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