Ahsan Iqbal tenders unconditional apology in contempt case

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Ahsan Iqbal on Monday tendered an unconditional apology in a contempt of court case. 

The former interior minister showed up before a bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) when it resumed the hearing of the case against him.

He offered an unconditional apology over his alleged contemptuous remarks against the judiciary and requested that the contempt case against him be quashed.

His apology comes on the heels of conviction of a PML-N leader by the Supreme Court in a similar case.

The top court lately sentenced former minister Daniyal Aziz till the rising of the court for maligning the judiciary.

Justice Atir Mehmood, a member of the bench, remarked that Mr. Iqbal time and again said a party was being targeted. He asked what the judiciary has to do with targeting a party.

He said the former minister apologised in front of the bench, but outside the court he became a “Jiyala” of the person who is going recklessly after the judiciary.

The bench said they gave the former minister due respect, but the statement he issued outside were intolerable. It adjourned the hearing until after summer vacations, saying it would examine his attitude.

Iqbal’s lawyer , however, insisted that the court should now dispose of the case when his client has already tendered the apology.

This irked the judges who said if he wanted to plead the case, they decide it on merit.