A two-member bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Mushir Alam, heard the case of the Independent Media Corporation on behalf of Geo Network against the negative propaganda by other channels, and a civil miscellaneous application filed on display of posters and banners in Islamabad against the judiciary.
The court in its order said that it had given clips of a television programme to the Attorney General (AG) for Pakistan, Salman Aslam Butt, on May 27, 2014 in order to probe as to why a television channel was disseminating irresponsible kind of programme. The AG informed the court that that matter was being probed.
Justice Jawwad said that the issue of the TV programme was not being resolved and another statement was published against him in an English newspaper — The News.The bench reproduced the news item in its order, “Who peddles ideas about clash of institutions, SC asks govt; Justice Khawaja says banners pop up when court hears missing persons case – Islamabad: Justice Jawwad S Khawaja has observed banners against the court were hanged when it took up the missing persons case. He said these banners were like explosives, which could cause an irreparable loss.”
Justice Jawwad said the same news was carried by the Urdu Daily Jang and ruled that no word was uttered during the missing person case which both the papers published.He referred the hearing of a constitutional plea 104-105 of 2012 saying it was emphasised during the proceedings that media freedom was not meant for irresponsible deliveries in journalism, adding that the court had suggested to work out a code of conduct with implementation, so that electronic or print media could avoid irresponsible reporting.
The court directed the AG to bring the matter relating to the code of conduct for reporting in the government knowledge so that serious efforts could be made to develop the code.Khudayar Mohla, President of the Press Association of the Supreme Court (PAS), however, informed the court that the association had worked out a draft code of conduct for reporting which had been circulated among its members and would be finalised after consultative process.
He further submitted that court directives to the government for the code of conduct for media reporting could be misinterpreted. At this, Justice Jawwad observed that no colourable interpretation would be allowed.
Matiullah Jan, a member of the PAS, urged the court to take all the institutions and persons into consultative process for developing the code of conduct, adding that without hearing all the concerned persons, no code of conduct could be finalised.
Meanwhile, the government informed the bench that three persons allegedly involved in displaying posters and banners in the federal capital against the judiciary had been arrested.In compliance with the court’s order of May 26, 2014, the AG submitted the reports of the interior secretary and DG Intelligence Bureau (IB).
He informed the court that three persons namely Shafique Butt, Muhammad Nazar and Muahmmad Waqar were being interrogated by the police after registeration of an FIR No.234/14. The AG, however, sought time to investigate the matter after apprehending more accused of displaying the anti-judiciary banners and posters in Islamabad, saying that the investigation would be completed as early as possible.Later, the court adjourned the hearing till June 10.
Editor’s note: The News regrets the publication of remarks not made by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja. It is being investigated how it happened. The remarks were, however, creeded by news agencies and also carried by other newspapers.
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