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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has decided to indict former prime minister Imran Khan in contempt of court case and has summoned him on September 22.
Earlier, the verdict was reserved in the contempt of court case against PTI Chairman Imran Khan — and the court was unsatisfied with the former prime minister’s response as to why the court should not proceed further in the case.
A five-member bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and also comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangir, and Justice Babar Sattar, heard the case.
Once the court took a five-minute break after the reservation of the verdict, Khan got up and asked the court that he wanted to speak. At this, the IHC CJ said that the court had heard his lawyers.
“I want to give my stance; the court can question me,” Khan said, but the court prefered to let it be and not listen to the PTI chairman.
Just hours before of the hearing, Khan filed a new miscellaneous plea seeking permission to submit written arguments.
Read more: Court extends Imran’s interim bail in vandalism case
In his fresh plea, Khan argued that the high court cannot exercise suo moto jurisdiction as per the Constitution. The arguments on the inadmissibility of the contempt case should be kept on record.
“The written arguments will also be explained in the oral arguments during the course of the proceedings,” read the plea.
A day earlier, the former premier had again avoided issuing a direct apology in his second response to a show-cause notice issued by the IHC in the contempt case.
The court had last month taken notice of the former prime minister’s speech at a public rally, where he allegedly threatened Islamabad additional sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry for extending PTI leader Shahbaz Gill’s remand.
