ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court has decided to indict Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) former Senator and firebrand leader Nehal Hashmi for contempt of court on March 26th.
Taking up its second contempt notice against Hashmi today (Monday), the apex court dismissed his response as unsatisfactory and turned down his apology, announcing to indict him.
Talking to the newsmen outside the top court, the PML-N loyalist claimed that he never uttered any words against the judges and judiciary.
“That clip showed the language of inmates,” he said, referring to his outrageous speech made minutes after his release from jail last month.
“It is my legal and constitutional right that my apology gets accepted. I shouldn’t be victimised politically,” declared the lawyer-turned-politician.
“I hope the court will think about my apology,” he noted.
Hashmi, a former lawmaker, was sent behind bars for a month and was disqualified for five years by the apex court on February 1 over his contemptuous remarks made in May, last year.
Soon after his release, he made another speech, that riled the superior judiciary and Hashmi was served with second contempt notice on Wednesday.
Nehal Hashmi also appeared before the top court last week where he pleaded the court to reconsider its decision as his “children would die” to which the CJP responded: “You should have thought of that earlier,” adding that the court would “take care of” Hashmi’s children.
“I am a middle-class man, I just get hyper when I am sad,” Hashmi observed, blaming his emotional state for said speech.
“Does seeing us make you hyper?” the chief justice quipped, stirring laughter in the courtroom.
“I can’t even pay my electricity bill without my job [as a lawyer],” Hashmi argued, however, the court ordered him to submit a written reply by March 11 (today).
Nehal Hashmi’s 2017 Speech
In a video that went viral on the internet shows a disgruntled Senator Nehal warning rivals and ‘some honorable officials associated with top institutions’ of dire consequences if they continued their concerns with the accountability of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Whoever is asking for accountability will retire tomorrow and we will deal with them,” insinuated Hashmi in a veiled threat to the top judiciary currently probing the ruling Sharif family in the backdrop of Panama papers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZNcSsaUOHY
“Those grilling… [be warned that] we will arrange the day of judgment for you.”
“You are making the life of the prime minister difficult. The Pakistani nation will make it difficult for you to live,” he added, without taking any names.
Following the speech, the court summoned the PML-N leader and after successive hearings sent him to jail on February 1, this year besides imposing a fine of Rs50,000 for contempt of court. He was also barred from holding public office for the next five years.
