IHC to indict Rana Shamim, others in affidavit case on Jan 7

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday set January 7, 2022, as the date for indicting former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Rana Shamim and others in contempt of court case, pertaining to the publication of an affidavit containing serious allegations against former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.

The high court had initiated proceedings against Shamim, investigative reporter Ansar Abbasi, editor-in-chief of a national daily, and its resident editor after an affidavit was published in the newspaper that accused former chief justice Saqib Nisar of influencing the case against ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

During the hearing today, Shamim opened his original affidavit — submitted earlier in Dec — on the court’s instructions. Justice Minallah asked Shamim if the document was the former judge’s affidavit and whether he had sealed it himself to which Shamim replied in the affirmative.

According to Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan, Shahmim had said that his affidavit was sealed but this parcel didn’t contain any seal, but just a stamp of the courier. “As per Shamim, he had given the affidavit to his grandson in a sealed envelope,” he added.

Shamim responded in affirmative, saying he gave the document in a white sealed envelope to his grandson in London. The affidavit was later sealed by the IHC registrar at the request of the CJ.

The IHC chief justice observed that Shamim’s written response submitted to the court had “laid the entire blame” on journalist Ansar Abbasi, recalling that the former jurist had also maintained that he had not shared the affidavit with anyone.

At this, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice-chairperson requested to proceed in the case, saying now it should seek responses from the people mentioned in the affidavit. “If PBC is implying that the contents of this affidavit were true then it is causing aspersions on all judges of this court,” the IHC CJ replied.

The affidavit has damaged the credibility of every judge at this court, Justice Minallah said. In allusion to bail granted to Nawaz and Maryam by the IHC, he said where did their “narrative” go when they got bail from this court after two weeks of the alleged conversation.

The IHC CJ said the court will frame charges and asked Latif Afridi to start arguments in the case. Afridi responded that he had not prepared to argue on the framing of charges but Shamim had accepted that the affidavit belonged to him.

“The affidavit has cast doubt on the court. It is a statement which everyone is considering the truth,” Justice Minallah said. He asked Abbasi if he wants to say anything, to which Abbasi replied that he had a talk with Shamim before the news story’s publication.

“He [Shamim] may be unable to recall properly and is forgetting, but I have explained this in my story and I have his text message as well,” Abbasi said.

While presenting his arguments, the AGP said that Shamim has committed contempt of court. Without naming anyone, the AGP said: “It is being reported for the last three days that the affidavit was recorded in someone’s office.”

“Surprisingly, no statement of denial of [the reports] has been issued,” he said, moving the court to indict all the accused in the case. At this, the court decided to frame charges against the ex-judge of GB and others on January 7, 2022.