Magazine editor tenders apology | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Magazine editor tenders apology

MUZAFFARABAD – The chief editor of a local magazine, facing contempt of court charges in AJK’s superior judiciary, tendered an unconditional apology in the High Court on Augusut 12 , and said that he had been used by some people for their ulterior motives.

Raja Khawar Nawaz, of the Nawa-e-Hurriyat weekly, said in the court and later in a written statement that he held the judiciary in high esteem and the write-up in question had been provided to him by an intelligence agency official, named Pervez. He, however, did not name the intelligence agency.

The accused, who is in his mid-twenties, could not answer any of the questions asked by acting Chief Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry about the AJK Constitution and the procedure for the appointment of members of the superior judiciary.

He told the court that Pervez had given him a file and asked him to publish (the matter in) it. He said he could present that file on the next date of hearing. He also said that he could provide to the chief justice names of people who had used him. At this, the chief justice adjourned the court for five minutes and summoned him to his chamber.

Earlier, the magazine’s printer, Malik Abdul Aziz, the owner of TS Printers, Rawalpindi, contended in the court that the matter in question had not been printed by his press, and that the name of his press was wrongly and unlawfully used in the print line.

The printer sought legal action against Raja Nawaz who had admitted that the magazine had not been printed in the TS Printers’s press. In view of the statement of the printer, supported by an affidavit, the notice against him was discharged.

However, the chief justice directed Raja Nawaz to submit a Rs 200,000 guarantee and personal surety, failing which he would be sent to jail. SSP Muzaffarabad and SHO city police station were directed to investigate into the matter and furnish to the court names of people who were behind the attempts to defame the supreme institution of judiciary.

On the request of Raja Nawaz, the chief justice also directed police to escort him home and provide him security. The next hearing has been set for August 23.

Source: Dawn

Date:8/13/2004