Justice Athar Minallah says Rana Shamim cannot go abroad

ISLAMABAD   -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday said that former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim would be indicted in the contempt of court case if he failed to produce the original affidavit before the court by December 13.

A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the case in which he had issued show cause notices to Shakilur Rehman, Aamir Ghouri, Ansar Abbasi and Rana Mohammad Shamim, former Chief Judge of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan after publication of a news item claiming that Rana Shamim executed an affidavit in which he leveled allegations against former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar. The IHC Chief Justice expressed his annoyance over Shamim’s refusal to submit original document, the contents of which were reported in a national daily.

In his affidavit, Rana Shamim had alleged that former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar had influenced the case against ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif by allegedly ordering a judge to keep the former premier and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in jail till general elections in July 2018. During the hearing, Rana Shamim’s counsel confirmed that the content of the affidavit attributed to his client was indeed accurate. However, he added that the affidavit was not supposed to be published.

In his reply submitted to the IHC in connection with the contempt proceedings against him, Rana Shamim said that the Affidavit referred in Show Cause Notice had neither been circulated to the press by the answering respondent nor it had been shared with anyone, with the intent that same may be made public. He stated that the only compelling force behind executing this statement in the form of an affidavit was a promise with my late wife before her death that he must get this fact reduced in writing and preserve the same to set the record straight. Therefore, statement was recorded in the form of an affidavit because of tremendous emotional pressure and to honour the promise made by him to his late wife before her death. Had there been any intention of ridiculing the judiciary, the same would have been tendered in Pakistan and released to various media outlets. Rana added, “Since I had no intention to make it public in Pakistan during my lifetime, so 1 deemed it appropriate to get the statement recorded and notarized outside Pakistan and also to be kept in safe custody outside Pakistan. In order to ensure this, I made the statement before the Notary Public at London and while placing the same in a sealed envelope, handed it over to my grandson with a clear instruction that neither he would open it nor share the same with anyone.”

He continued that he had no clue or knowledge that how the affidavit came in the possession of the reporter who actually published it as a news item. 

It may be added here that as a practice, the copy of such statement is retained by the notary public in London for record. However, this fact could best be answered by either who released this statement or shared the same with Ansar Abbasi.

He also said that jurisdiction of this court cannot be exercised against him as the alleged affidavit has not been brought to light or published or circulated by the answering respondent. “The talk between the then Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and the answering respondent had taken place in Gilgit which is an area outside the territory of Pakistan, as such the answering respondent cannot be made subject to contempt proceedings, much less that no order, direction, undertaking, judgment or decree of the then Chief Justice is under challenge or violated by the answering respondent,” said the former GB Chief Judge.

Justice Athar asked that where the document was right now? The counsel informed the court that the original affidavit was with Shamim’s grandson, who was ‘underground’ in the United Kingdom because he was being harassed. The IHC Chie Justice remarked that people did not go into hiding in the UK. He added that the high court was being targeted and submission of original affidavit was necessary for progress in the case.

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan said he had written letters to Shamim and Pakistan High Commission in UK after court’s written order on Nov 30. Afridi requested the court to allow ex-GB chief justice to fly abroad so he could produce the original affidavit. However, Justice Athar said that Rana Shamim does not need to go abroad and he cannot go abroad.