The Islamabad High Court (IHC) summoned the owner of the Jang/Geo media group Mir Shakilur Rehman on Wednesday regarding anti-judiciary advertisements published in English daily The News International – owned by the group – over the previous two days.
The court also directed Rehman and the newspaper’s editor, Amir Ghauri, to present affidavits with an apology.
These advertisements were printed in the newspaper on May 23 and 24.
According to the media outlet, the family of Barrister Fahad Malik, who was slain in Islamabad in 2016 sponsored the advertisements. It called on chief justice of Pakistan Umar Umar Ata Bandial to take notice of the incident and claimed that the killers “had struck a deal with the ruling judge in the case”.
Justice Minallah said the newspaper had used the picture of the honourable chief justice of Pakistan in the advertisements adding that the matter could not be ignored. He remarked that the publication had printed the ads targeting the judiciary for commercial purposes.
The newspaper’s editor offered an apology to the court, however, the IHC CJ maintained that the matter could not be ignored. The lawyer representing the media group said that the newspaper had printed an apology in today’s edition which was presented in the court.
The IHC CJ called the apology an eyewash and directed the group’s team to submit affidavits and tell Mir Shakilur Rehman to appear in person on the next hearing on May 30.
