SC dismisses 10-year-old contempt cases against PCO judges

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday discarded several contempt of court notices issued to former judges who had taken an oath to serve under the notorious Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) in 2007 despite court orders barring them to do so.

The notices had been issued by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhay against a number of former SC judges, including Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, Hamid Ali Shah, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhary, Hasnat Ahmad Khan, Shabir Raza Rizwi, Yasmin Abbasi, Jahanzeb Rahim and Sajjad Husain Shah.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar headed a four-judge bench which oversaw the first hearing of the case.

"This is a very old matter and we do not wish to take it any further," Justice Nisar said, recalling that the events of the Musharraf-era Supreme Court are now "part of our history".

"Former justice Aijaz Hasan Chaudhary, who was a part of this case, has even passed away. We're therefore taking these notices back," the chief justice said.