LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday advised Advocate General of Punjab Ahmad Awais against dragging the bar in a contempt matter initiated against him for contemptuous conduct during the announcement of a verdict against Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Model Town incident.

Earlier, a full bench headed by Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan expressed dissatisfaction over a reply submitted by the advocate general to a contempt notice issued to him. Justice Shahzad Ahmad Malik and Justice Aalia Neelum were the other members of the bench.

Read:Model Town case: AGP told to file written reply to contempt notice

The bench told Mr Awais that his response showed that he wanted to contest the contempt notice.

Several senior bar members also joined Mr Awais during the hearing in order to persuade the bench to discharge the contempt notice against him.

Recalling the objectionable conduct of the advocate general, the bench said it exercised maximum restraint as it skipped many facts of the episode, in its written order, only to protect dignity of the institutions.

AGP Awais said he had a great respect for the institution of the judiciary and could not even think of committing contempt of court.

To a court query, Mr Awais said he had no meeting with Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar on the subject matter.

The bench reminded the principal law officer that there was an impression that he had created the scene in the courtroom with the consent of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the chief minister.

Mr Awais, who was among founding members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, stated that he had not caused any rumpus in the court and action was being taken against the law officers involved in the episode.

The bench observed that it would be better if the advocate general tendered unconditional apology for his conduct.

The bench adjourned further hearing till Friday (today), asking the advocate general to come up with a satisfactory reply.

On March 22, the bench with a majority decision of two to one had suspended the JIT formed by Punjab government to hold fresh probe into the Model Town incident.

At the time of the announcement of the suspension order, AGP Awais along with other law officers had created a scene in the courtroom and lodged a protest against the verdict on a pretext that the office of the advocate general received no notice from the court about the proceedings. The bench had taken notice of the conduct and issued a contempt notice to the advocate general.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019