By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday gave Rana Muhammad Shamim, the former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan, the last chance to submit his reply in a contempt of court case against him.
The former GB judge is facing proceedings in the high court after his affidavit was published in a national daily alleging that former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar directed an IHC judge not to grant bail to ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif before the 2018 general election.
As IHC CJ Athar Minallah took up the proceedings today, he asked Shamim for his response to the show-cause notice. However, the response was not submitted with the ex-judge seeking another adjournment.
According to Shamim, his lawyer could not draft the response due to illness; therefore, he should be granted more time to submit the response to the court.
CJ Minallah told him to get another lawyer if his lawyer was not available. “Your affidavit had no justification, it was merely a part of [a] political narrative,” Justice Minallah added.
The allegations published in two major newspapers of the country were grave, the IHC CJ said, asking if the former judge had sent notices to the newspapers.
I will send the notices, responded Shamim. “I did not hurl any allegations nor did I leak the affidavit,” he said, adding that he will also send a notice to the newspaper if they reveal their source.
The IHC gave Shamim the last opportunity to submit his response and adjourned the case till April 4.
On March 1, Shamim challenged his indictment through an intra-court appeal, calling it unconstitutional.
Furthermore, the former G-B chief justice stated that the individuals who confessed to publishing the document were not indicted but he was, “despite clearly stating that he had not provided the affidavit for publishing to anyone”.
The affidavit case
The IHC on January 20, indicted former Gilgit-Baltistan chief justice Rana Shamim on contempt of court charges.
However, the court deferred framing charges against media personnel involved in the case including investigative journalist Ansar Abbasi, editor-in-chief of a national daily, and its resident editor.
The high court had initiated proceedings against Shamim and the media personnel after an affidavit by the former G-B chief judge was published in a newspaper that accused former chief justice Saqib Nisar of influencing the case against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz. IHC CJ Athar Minallah warned that if it came to light during the hearing that media personnel had done this deliberately, action will be taken against them as well.
