Former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim has denied claims that he signed his affidavit about former chief justice Saqib Nisar while in the London office of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will indict Justice Shamim along with the other accused on January 7 in the ongoing contempt of court case against them.
Earlier, Minister Fawad Chauhdry had claimed that Rana Shamim got his affidavit notarised in the presence of former PM Nawaz Sharif.
The affidavit in question alleges that former chief justice Saqib Nisar attempted to coerce a judgement from a sitting IHC judge against Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, nearly three years ago.
The affidavit first emerged on November 15, when it was published by a daily Pakistani newspaper. Ansar Abbasi, the journalist who wrote the accompanying news story has since been charged with contempt of court. Justice (retd) Shamim maintains that he did not leak the affidavit to the journalist or share a copy with him.
The credibility of Justice (retd) Shamim’s claims have been called into question, as has the timing of the affidavit’s publication. The IHC has questioned why a sitting judge holding the highest judicial office in Gilgit-Baltistan would wait until now to levy these allegations.
During the last hearing of the case held on December 20, Justice Minallah remarked that by making such statements, Justice (retd) Shamim had “cast doubt on all judges at IHC.”
