Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said he is willing to apologise to a judge as a court was set to indict him with contempt of court.
Khan said he was ready to apologise to Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry for his controversial remarks on her. Following this, the Islamabad High Court on Thursday deferred contempt proceedings against Khan.
The Islamabad High Court was expected to formally indict Khan in contempt proceedings against him for his controversial remarks against Judge Chaudhry.
During a rally in Islamabad on August 20, Khan had threatened to file cases against top police officials, election commission, and political opponents over the treatment meted out to his aide Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested on charges of sedition. He had also taken exception to Judge Chaudhry, who had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the police, and said she should "prepare herself as action would be taken against her".
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Hours after the speech, Khan was booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening police, judiciary and other state institutions at his rally.
Justice Aamer Farooq decided to initiate contempt proceedings against Khan while hearing a petition challenging Gill’s police remand. The court had given Khan twice an opportunity to give a written response to satisfy the court but he failed to satisfy the court which announced to indict him.
Khan was ousted as prime minister in April after his ruling coalition's MPs turned against him and he lost a vote of confidence. From weeks prior to his ouster, Khan has been alleging a foreign conspiracy against him. He has accused the United States to be in legue with his political opponents, which came together with the country's institutions to oust him, as per him. Since his ouster, Khan has been holding massive rallies across the country and has termed the Shehbaz Sharif-led government as "imported" regime.
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Khan has said that the United States did not like his pursuit of independent foreign policy and therefore ousted him in league with his Opposition.
Khan came to power in 2018 and remains the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a five-year term.
(With PTI inputs)
