ISLAMABAD, DEC 7: Pakistan's deposed premier Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday appeared in the Supreme Court in a rare revival of a contempt case stemming out of its storming two years ago allegedly by his party activists with the military regime urging the apex court to identify and punish those responsible for the outrage.Sharif, who is named in the case as head of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), was flown here from Karachi and produced before a full bench headed by Chief Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui amidst tight security in response to summons by the court.Attorney General and Law Minister Aziz A Munshi, arguing for the State, told the bench "the grossest form of contempt was committed and witnesses should be summoned to identify those responsible for attacking the Supreme Court."However, former law minister Khalid Anwar appearing on behalf of the deposed premier told the court "Nawaz Sharif has utmost respect for this court" and that "the contempt case has been disposed of" and its reopening isunprecedented.The 12-judge full bench, after hearing both sides, directed Sharif to submit his reply by January 11 and ordered day-to-day hearing of the case from January 12.Sharif, who is in judicial custody facing treason and hijacking charges, in a brief statement before the court termed as "humiliating" his living condition in Karachi jail ."The treatment meted out to me and to my colleagues is humiliating. I have been kept in a small cage-like cell which is locked all the time except for a few brief intervals when i am allowed out to walk around," he said. Sharif also referred to the "inhuman" conditions he faced in Rawalpindi after he was ousted in the coup on October 12.When Sharif's counsel and former attorney general Choudhury Mohammad Farooq pleaded that the ousted premier was not a party in the case, the Chief Justice said he had been summoned as president of PML and not in his personal capacity.The Chief Justice reminded him that a legal provision to appeal against a contempt casejudgement was incorporated only during Sharif's regime. The apex court building was stormed by hundreds of PML activists including some parliamentarians on November 28, 1998 when a contempt case against Sharif for criticising the judiciary was being heard. The then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who was at loggerheads with Sharif, the then premier, had ordered initiation of contempt proceedings against him.Later, after an inquiry, the case was disposed of by a three-member bench of the court in May this year, exonerating seven accused, including six PML lawmakers. The court observed that the contempt of court had been committed but there was insufficient evidence against the accused.
