Supreme Court to indict Nehal Hashmi for contempt on March 26
Disqualified PML-N senator has earlier remained in prison for a month on contempt charges
March 12, 2018
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court decided on Monday to indict Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nehal Hashmi for contempt on March 26.
Hashmi, a former senator, was jailed for a month and disqualified for five years by the apex court on February 1 over his contemptuous remarks made last year.
Taking up its second contempt notice against Hashmi today, the apex court dismissed his response as unsatisfactory and decided to indict him.
Talking to the media outside the apex court, Hashmi claimed he never uttered any words against the judges and judiciary.
"That clip showed the language of inmates," he said, referring to his controversial speech after his release from jail last month. The disqualified senator asserted that it is his legal and constitutional right that his apology be accepted, adding that "I shouldn’t be victimised politically.
"I hope the court will think about my apology," he said further.
Second contempt notice
In the previous hearing of the case on Wednesday, Hashmi was issued another contempt of court notice by the apex court.
A video of Hashmi's post-prison-release media talk was played, in which a visibly charged Hashmi had said he had been made a victim of revenge for standing by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
After initially denying to have made the statements, the PML-N leader had said he was ashamed.
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had termed regrettable the remarks uttered by Hashmi for judges following his release from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, on February 28.
The court had also issued notices to vice-chairmen of all the bar councils to submit their response to the court's plan to cancel Hashmi's licence to practice law.
Moreover, during the hearing, Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Kamran Murtaza had excused himself from representing Hashmi in the case.
Hashmi had been summoned today after a chief justice-led three-member bench took up his plea last week against his disqualification.
In May last year during the height of the Panama Papers case against Nawaz, Hashmi, in a speech in Karachi, had threatened the 'enemies of the prime minister'.
