Supreme Court issues show cause notice to Malik Riaz

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has issued a show cause notice to business tycoon Malik Riaz in the contempt of court case and summoned him on Thursday.

During proceedings the bench hearing the case remarked that the news conference was contempt of court and an attempt to undermine the authority of the Supreme Court.

Justice Shakirullha Jan remarked that Riaz was trying to ridicule, scandalize and spread hatred against the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had also taken suo moto notice of the Malik Riaz’s news conference on the request of the Registrar and constituted a three member bench to hear the case.

A contempt of court petition filed by Advocate Ashraf Gujjar relating to the same news conference was also heard by the same three member bench.

On Tuesday, Malik Riaz held a fiery news conference pertaining to the Arsalan Iftikhar case. It was during this news conference that Riaz had asked the Chief Justice to reveal details of meetings and also how long he had known about the Arsalan Iftikhar’s alleged dealings. Riaz had said that he was not scared of being called for contempt or sent to prison.

Meanwhile speaking to the media in Lahore, Riaz’s counsel Zahid Bukhari distanced himself from the news conference stating that this was Malik Riaz’s personnel complains.