The Registrar Office on 03-01-2019 had returned his petition after raising objections. "The criminal original petition is suffering from deficiency that this petition is frivolous as contempt proceedings cannot be initiated against the Supreme Court judge on the basis of passing a judicial order or commenting about this order. Hence this is not entertainable."
Ihtesham in his appeal contended that former judge had made remarks not only on the judgment passed, but also regarding the matter pending adjudication. In a talk while replying to a question, the former chief justice allegedly said: "I assure you that her (Aasia Bibi's) name would not be placed on Exit Control List." Thus he had disclosed his mind prior to the hearing of the case which was pending adjudication after the filing of a review petition on the Supreme Court judgement in the blasphemy case.
Similarly, according to Ihtesham, the ex-CJP in a meeting with a group of British Pakistani parliamentarians in the UK said that Pakistan's justice system is fractured and it needs reforms so that it could be made relevant to the modern world for dispensation of speedy and quality justice to the citizens of Pakistan. He said there was no evidence in the Aasia's case, but "unfortunately it took about eight years." The petitioner said proceedings of the meeting were published in an English daily on 22-11-18 and in an Urdu newspaper on 23-11-2018.
The petitioner claimed that his comments have, no doubt, the tendency to "substantially prejudice" the hearing of the case and to interfere into the course of administration of justice. He said being the Chief Justice of Pakistan at that time when a review petition had been filed in the Supreme Court he was not "supposed" to say a single word about the case or to give assurance to the MPs of a foreign government and media.