ISLAMABAD:
Rights activist and lawyer Imaan Mazari has submitted a written request to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) registrar, asking him to provide CCTV footage of Courtroom No 1 from September 11.
She has stated that on that daybetween 9am to 11aman unfortunate incident took place in the courtroom involving her verbal exchange with IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar.
Mazari has requested the registrar to preserve the footage of that altercation and also provide her with a copy of the same. She has also submitted a USB along with the application.
On Thursday, Justice Dogar and Imaan engaged in a verbal altercation during which the judge cautioned the lawyer that she could face contempt proceedings.
“You should keep your mouth shut and stay within the limits,” Chief Justice Dogar told Mazari, who had allegedly called Justice Dogar “a dictator” at some other forum.
Imaan insisted that her personal opinions were protected under free speech and should not affect her client’s case. “I am here with a [legal] brief, not in a personal capacity.”
During the heated exchange, Chief Justice Dogar warned Imaan of possible contempt proceedings. Adding fuel to the fire, he turned to Imaan’s husband and fellow lawyer, advocate Hadi Ali Chatta, and said, “Hadi sahib, explain it to her…if I catch her someday…”
Imaan later taken to X to reiterate that she was present in the IHC on behalf of her client, not as “activist Imaan Mazari”. She stressed that she was conducting herself “according to professional etiquette (and a court should do the same)”.
On Friday, a number of lawyers’ bodies issued condemnatory statements with a couple of them demanding Dogar’s removal from his post.
During the hearing of a case on Friday, Justice Dogar clarified his remarks, stating that Imaan Mazari was “like a daughter to him”. “Yesterday I was advising her as an elder and as chief justice, but my words were taken out of context and blown out of proportion,” he said.
The judge stated that he only cautioned her not to make personal comments about judges, and denied threatening to “catch” her.
