The Islamabad High Court (IHC) disposed of the contempt case against former Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Judge Rana Shamim on Monday, deeming the case infructuous.
Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar conducted the hearing of the contempt case. The former judge, however, did not appear in court during the proceedings.
The Deputy Attorney General informed the court that the case had been scheduled after a considerable delay. He also noted that the charge of contempt had been formally brought only against Rana Shamim. IHC disposed of the case after 3 years.
The case stemmed from a purported affidavit by Rana Shamim related to the Panama Papers case, in which he alleged that former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, had manipulated judicial proceedings to delay the release of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz through an Islamabad High Court judge. The contempt proceedings against him had been initiated in 2022.
During the last hearing, Rana Shamim submitted a letter of apology to the court, disowning his earlier affidavit and the allegations made against the former Chief Justice of Pakistan and the IHC judge.
In his affidavit, he retracted his previous statement, clarifying that he had no intention of defaming the former Chief Justice and had withdrawn all the accusations he had leveled.