Nehal Hashmi gets bail in controversial speech case
Senator says only small portion of his speech was leaked to the media
July 03, 2017
KARACHI: A lower court approved on Monday interim bail for Senator Nehal Hashmi in a controversial speech case registered against him.
Hearing Hashmi’s plea for interim bail, sessions judge (East) heard set approved bail at Rs50,000.
A case was registered against the former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader at the Bahadurabad Police Station on the federal government’s directions after a part of his speech ‘attacking those investigating the prime minister’s family’ went viral on May 31.
Speaking in court on Monday, Hashmi, who as accompanied by senior office-holders of the Karachi Bar Association, said his entire speech spans 14 minutes but the media only showed a minute or so, stirring an unnecessary controversy.
The Supreme Court took a suo motu notice after the video surfaced, showing Hashmi making threatening remarks reportedly against the Supreme Court and the Panama case Joint Investigation Team. He was the Pakistan PML-N Sindh secretary-general and a senator from the party when he made the speech, reportedly at an event related to Youm-e-Takbeer [observed on May 28].
Later, Hashmi was expelled by the PML-N leadership and directed to resign from the Senate, however, he refused to comply with the resignation orders. Moreover, on the order of the attorney general, a case was registered against Hashmi at the Bahadurabad Police Station.
At the last hearing in the contempt of court case against Hashmi in the Supreme Court on June 23, the three-member Panama case implementation bench hearing the case expressed displeasure over the absence of Hashmi.
At the start of proceedings, Hashmi’s counsel informed the court that his client has gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and thus could not make it to the hearing.
Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who heads the bench, expressed displeasure at Hashmi’s absence. He said the contemnor [Hashmi] should have informed the court of his intent to perform Umrah.
Justice Ejaz also informed Hashmi’s counsel that the bench is dissatisfied with their reply to the contempt notice.
In his order, the judge further observed that Hashmi would be indicted at the next hearing on July 10.
Hashmi, on June 20, submitted a 19-page reply saying he believed the incident to be a tactic played by his political rivals, as he "cannot even imagine to slander the judiciary".
While defending his stance on respecting the judiciary, Hashmi stated he is associated with the profession of law since the past 30 years and also stood by the judiciary during the 2007 lawyers' movement.
