Pakistan SC drops contempt charge against Imran Khan

The Pakistan Supreme Court today dropped contempt charges against cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, accepting his explanation that he never intended to bring senior judges into disrepute.

Khan, the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  (PTI), finished in third place in the polls won by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz  (PML-N). The PTI won enough seats to form a government in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khan was on notice after he apparently criticised the judiciary and the election commission for inaction over alleged rigging in the general elections held in May, when he finally got a political breakthrough which he had long sought.

But summoned for a second time before the Supreme Court, he said he never criticised the senior judiciary and that undermining the supremacy of the judiciary was akin to undermining democracy.

"Why is it being misconstrued? I only referred to the returning officers and never named the Supreme Court or the superior judiciary," Khan told the court.

"My entire struggle has been focused on an independent justice system," he said.

The court dropped the case. "The notice is discharged," said Anwar Zaheer Jamali, head of the three-judge bench that heard the proceedings.