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C J complains of misreporting by press

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: For the fifth consecutive day Chief Justice Irshad Hassan Khan complained that the media, particularly the vernacular press, were giving "sensational headlines" to observations and remarks exchanged between the judges and the counsel during the hearing on validity of the PCO.

The Chief Justice said this was regrettable and smacked of lack of understanding of legal issues by most of the newsmen covering the Supreme Court proceedings.

He gave examples and instances where the exchange of remarks had been misrepresented and, by tearing it out of text, given wrong captions.

He said this misreporting was causing a lot of misunderstanding. The case is still being argued. He said that, to understand the point of view of the petitioners, when the judges put questions for a better explanation, these should not be considered the views of the judges.

"Nothing has been decided as yet, and we are still hearing the objections the petitioners have to the Provisional Constitutional Order of 1999," he remarked.

The Chief Justice was so perturbed over the conduct of the Urdu newspapers of Wednesday that he interrupted the PML counsel several times to tell him to be cautious or, if questioned him on some point, he alerted the mediamen not to treat it as his opinion, or decision of the bench.

The Chief Justice regretted that his remarks on Tuesday that the Constitution gave authority to a competent authority to frame rules for the general election had been misconstrued and overplayed under wrong headlines attributing to him the statement that the Constitution gave the Chief Executive powers to legislate.

He said he was a firm believer in the freedom of the press and was not given to issuing directions. Hence, he said, he could only request the press to conduct itself with more responsibility.

Earlier, when Khalid Anwer alluded to Gen Zia's period and said that it was the reign of three Ms-Mulla, merchant and military-the Chief Justice cautioned him that any misreporting might make him the target of wrath of anyone of the Ms. "You have to be careful while making such observations," he told the counsel.

At a later stage, the Chief Justice again interjected and facing the mediamen, said: "Don't misquote and mis-represent us. Whatever we say at this stage is not a final verdict."