Altaf’s Apology

The apex court has accepted the apology of the contemnor Altaf Hussain. The apology was unconditional and the MQM Chief had placed himself entirely at the mercy of the court. He has also taken his contemptuous words back, synonymous for which in Urdu is “Thook kar chatna”.

Though it was extremely magnanimous and gracious of the SCP to let him off but would it not have been appropriate to make him tender the apology publicly and recite orally all that he has submitted in writing to the court in front of a mammoth rally in Karachi similar to one in which he had committed the offence in the first place.  His contemptuous and seething rants and utterings were heard by the millions in the arena and on almost all TV channels in the country, but how many would now know of the exact tenor and tone of his apology?!

It has become a sort of customary to insult the judiciary and get away with a simple apology.  The court can always demonstrate its large heartedness and forgive, but rendering of a public apology in front of the same crowd and under the similar circumstances in which the contempt was committed will act as an exemplary deterrent for all would be delinquent contemnors.  

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)