A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing a petition pertaining to the media’s reporting after the Abbottabad operation in the Supreme Court.

Petitioner agencies’ counsel Raja Irshad maintained that the media was defaming the armed forces regularly.

He said to the chief justice that his statements in yesterday’s function were made out to seem like he was having a fight with the army chief.

Irshad said that PEMRA laws related to the media needed to be implemented as the media was defaming the judiciary and army, to which the chief justice said that there was no conflict between institutions and the points brought to notice would be taken seriously. He also told Irshad to refrain from speaking on the subject of respecting the judiciary.

While discussing the case, the chief justice also said that the Supreme Court was the final authority on constitutional matters.

The bench called for a copy of President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement published in a US publication to find what was defamatory in it after the petitioner’s counsel raised the issue.

The court summoned all records of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press releases and armed forces’ statements issued after the Abbottabad operation against Osama Bin Laden.

The hearing was then adjourned till November 22.

With the long-awaited and potentially explosive Abbottabad Commission report purportedly complete and submitted, the Supreme Court was moved regarding the media’s criticism of the armed forces in the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden debacle last year.