Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings against nine judges

The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to initiate contempt of court proceedings against nine judges of superior courts, who endorsed the imposition of emergency in 2007, and left it to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to decide whether similar proceedings should be taken up against former president Pervez Musharraf.
A four-judge bench headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez said charges will be framed against the nine judges, including former apex court Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar on February 21.
The court left it to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to decide whether the same bench or another one should take up contempt of court proceedings against former president Musharraf, and the then premier Shaukat Aziz for their actions during the emergency imposed in November 2007 by Musharraf.
In its verdict issued this morning, the bench decided not to initiate contempt of court proceedings against two of the11 judges. The bench also considered whether it could issue notices to Musharraf and other military generals involved in the promulgation of emergency in 2007.
The verdict said the Constitution and law do not prohibit proceedings against judges of the Supreme Court and high courts for committing contempt of court. The nine judges will be put to trial in accordance with the law," it said. Referring to the actions of Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz, the bench noted that they had proclaimed emergency and asked judges to swear an oath of allegiance to the president before the apex court struck down the imposition of emergency.
"Therefore, the case for contempt of court these persons (Musharraf and Aziz) will have to answer is materially different from the charge to be faced by the (judges). The proceedings, therefore, against the aforesaid persons may continue independently and on their own facts, either before this bench or before some other bench as may be determined by the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan," the verdict said. The bench, however, dropped proceedings against Justice Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhinder after they tendered unconditional apology to the bench during the proceedings against them.