IHC to open sealed affidavit of Rana Shamim on next hearing

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Monday decided to open the sealed affidavit of former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan, Rana Shamim on the next hearing of the case, ARY News reported.

The contempt case hearing against the former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan was presided over by IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah.

Advocate General Islamabad, Ansar Abbasi, Aamir Ghauri, Rana Shamim along his lawyer Latif Afridi appeared before the court.

The sealed envelope carrying the affidavit of Rana Shamim was presented before the IHC CJ Justice Athar Minallah. The top judge remarked that we will open the sealed envelope at the next hearing as AGP Khalid Jawed did not appear before the court owing to his health issues.

The IHC CJ said former GB CJ, Rana Shamim raised fingers at the judges of his court and added that IHC is not worried about the criticism.

This is the matter of prestige of my court, not a contempt case hearing, Rana Shamim should present evidence to support his allegations, Justice Minallah remarked.

Read more: IHC DEFERS DECISION ON INDICTMENT OF RANA SHAMIM IN CONTEMPT CASE

The court asked the lawyer of Rana Shamim to satisfy the court with his arguments and the CJ remarked that the case would be taken back after satisfaction.

The court observed that the news of Ansar Abbasi gave the impression that judges cannot make their decisions freely and according to the law.

Later, the hearing was adjourned until December 28.

Rana Shamim’s affidavit

Last week, a sealed affidavit of former chief justice of Gilgit Baltistan Rana Shamim has been received at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through a courier from London, where it was kept in a locker.

According to sources in the judiciary, the courier carrying the sealed affidavit was received by the registrar of the Islamabad High Court, who placed another seal on it to secure it.

Background

Former CJ Gilgit Baltistan had claimed that former CJP Saqib Nisar had asked a high court judge to keep Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif in jail till the 2018 general elections.
He claimed that he heard the conversation when the former CJP was visiting GB before the 2018 elections.

Saqib Nisar, however, rejected the claim and said that the allegations against him are far away from reality and termed it as a lie.

The former top judge said, “Rana Shamim asked me for extension of his tenure as CJ GB, which I didn’t approve.” Nisar said former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan complained once against not giving him an extension.