


When Justice Minallah asked what purpose Shamim's affidavit would serve and whether he had given it to a newspaper, the former judge responded, "My affidavit is sealed in a locker in the UK. It may be mentioned here that The News report had said that Shamim confirmed the contents of the leaked affidavit both on a phone call with the correspondent, as well as a message. "I have not yet seen the affidavit," the ex-GB judge informed the court, referring to the document in the report carried by The News. However, he later changed his legal counsel to Latif Afridi. Shamim was previously represented by his son Ahmed Hassan Rana, an advocate of the Supreme Court. The IHC chief justice, however, gave Shamim four days to submit his written response. He added that there had been a tragedy in his family and requested the court to schedule the next hearing after December 12. Justice Minallah asked Shamim whether he had submitted his response, to which the latter replied that the court should ask his lawyer about it. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had subsequently taken notice of the report and later issued show-cause notices to Abbasi, editor-in-chief of Jang Group Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, The News editor Aamir Ghouri as well as Shamim under the Contempt of Court Ordinance.Īll four respondents were in the court but only Rehman, Ghouri and Abbasi had submitted their written responses.Īt the outset of today's hearing, Justice Minallah remarked that the case was related to "my court and its accountability", adding, "along with media freedom, this case is also about the independence of the judiciary." The report published on Nov 15 in The News by journalist Ansar Abbasi, quoted Shamim as saying in an alleged affidavit that he witnessed Nisar relaying instructions to a high court judge to not release the father-daughter duo in the corruption references against them. Shamim made the remarks during the hearing on show-cause notices issued over an investigative report that highlighted Shamim's alleged accusation against Nisar of colluding to deny bails to top PML-N leadership before general elections 2018. Former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim on Tuesday distanced himself from an affidavit attributed to him in which allegations of collusion were levelled against another former jurist Mian Saqib Nisar, telling the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that he had not yet examined the 'leaked' document.
