ISLAMABAD The Pakistani Supreme Court on Friday dropped charges of contempt of court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and several key colleagues that had threatened to bring down his government last year, court officials said. A seven-member bench headed by chief justice Ajmal Mian dropped the case and withdrew the contempt of court notice on a private petition filed by a local advocate, the sources said.

The court also dropped similar contempt charges in more than 20 petitions pending against former premier Benazir Bhutto, Law Minister Khalid Anwar, MPs and local journalists, the sources said. The charges filed against the prime minister and several cabinet colleagues triggered the country's worst judicial crisis last year and brought Sharif's government to the brink of collapse. The Pakistani nation should learn tolerance and inculcate the habit of appreciating the opposite point of view, the court remarked.

Efforts should be made to preserve the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression and freedom of press within the limits prescribed by the law. It also observed that without an independent judiciary there could neither be stability in the country nor the rule of law. The power of contempt of court should be used sparingly and only in serious cases, it added.

The usefulness of the provision depends on the wisdom and restraint with which it is exercised, it observed. The courts should not be either unduly touchy or too astute in discovering new varieties of contempt, the 317-page order said. Sharif was indicted on November 19 by former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah who was at the centre of the governments judicary tussle.

(AFP)