FULL COURT MEETING OF SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN
  Islamabad, June 15, 2012
 A Full Court meeting was held today in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of the Hon'ble Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and was attended by all the Hon Judges namely Mr. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Mr. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Mr. Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Mr. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Mr. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Mr. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Mr. Justice Tariq Parvez, Mr. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Mr. Justice Sarmad Jalal osmany, Mr. Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Mr. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Mr. Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Mr. Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Mr. Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed and Mr. Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed. Dr. Faqir Hussain, Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan also attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Hon Chief Justice of Pakistan formally welcomed the newly elevated Judge of the Supreme Court namely Mr. Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed. The Chief Justice appreciated the qualities, dedication, devotion to duty and commitment of Hon Judge. Mr. Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed in his response thanked the Chief Justice of Pakistan for his compliments and said that it is an honour for him to serve on the Bench of apex Court.
Thereafter, the Full Court considered the note of Registrar dated 15.6.2012 in respect of “Malik Riaz Planted Interview with Mehar Bokhari and Mubashir Lukman on Dunya TV” which is reproduced as follows:
        “It is submitted that Dunya TV aired an interview of Malik Riaz Hussain in its Special Talk Show on 13.6.2012 (8:00 – 9:00 pm and 10 - 11 pm), hosted by anchors, Mubashir Lucman and Mehar Bokhari. Furthermore, behind the scenes footage of the same show has been revealed and is available on YouTube and some other social media under the above-captioned title. The story has also been reported today in several newspapers (clippings from daily ‘The News’, ‘Dawn’, ‘Express Tribune’, ‘Jang’, ‘Nawa-i-Waqt’, ‘Express’, etc enclosed). Besides, the selective parts of the same footage were shown by Geo TV on 14.6.2012 in its programme Capital Talk with Hamid Mir and Dawn News in Live with Syed Talat Hussain. In the subject footage off screen conservation between the anchor persons and Malik Riaz Hussain has been shown, indicating the kind of questions to be asked, taking instructions for uninterrupted replies from the Channel administration, putting planted questions, suggesting answers of questions, telephone call statedly of Mr. Abdul Qadir Gillani to one of the anchor person, etc. From this footage it appears that the whole show was pre-planed in which planted questions were asked and the interviewer coached in giving answers. It is clearly indicative of a pre-planed conspiracy against judiciary to scandalize the Court, prejudice the determination of pending matters in the Court and bring the Court/Judge into hatred, ridicule or contempt.

          It may be stated that the same matter remained subjudice in Suo Moto Case No. 5 of 2012 as well as Criminal Original Petition No. 48-49 of 2012. A bench of this Court comprising Mr. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Mr. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain in the judgment passed in Suo Moto Case No. 5 of 2012 also bemoaned the role of some anchor persons in the matter and in particular the lake of due diligence to scrutinize the material and ascertain the true fact of the case.

          On the face of it, the footage showing conversation behind the seen smells of a planned conspiracy to shake public faith/confidence in the administration of justice and undermine the dignity/prestige of the Court, thereby tending to bring the Court/Judges into hatred, ridicule or contempt. It further tends to prejudice the determination of pending cases before the Supreme Court. It therefore warrants action under Article 204 of the Constitution read with Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003.

          Therefore, if approved, in the first instance, the Chairman, PEMRA may be directed to submit report in the matter and also produce the full and unedited footage of the video behind the scene conversation on CD alongwith multimedia equipment on 15.6.2012 at 2:00 pm in the Supreme Court.”

The note was duly approved by the Hon Chief Justice of Pakistan and accordingly the requisite footage of the off-screen conversation was procured and parts of which were exhibited to the members of the Full Court. The Chief Justice of Pakistan subjected the Chairman PEMRA to certain critical questions, in particular, the role of PEMRA in preventing the telecast of contemptuous and scandalous material against the judiciary. After deliberations, the Full Court expressed its faith and determination in maintaining and further strengthening the independence of judiciary, so as to ensure the free, fair and impartial dispensation of justice by the Court. The Full Court further resolved to call for a comprehensive report from the Chairman PEMRA to be submitted to the Registrar, Supreme Court who will place the same before 2-members Committee comprising of Mr. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Mr. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain for perusal and recommendation for further course of action, if required.
The Full Court also reviewed the report of last 6 months i.e. 1.12.2011 to 31.5.2012, regarding pendency and disposal of the cases by the Supreme Court. During this period total 8217 fresh cases were instituted and 7568 were decided. The Full Court expressed its satisfaction over the rate of disposal and resolved to reduce the backlog through quick and expeditious disposal.