ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Monday (today) resume hearing in a contempt of court case against former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim and others for publishing a controversial affidavit of the former.   

A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah will conduct hearing of the case in which he had issued show cause notices to Shakil ur Rehman, Editor in Chief, Aamir Ghouri, Editor, 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.

In its written order after the last hearing, the IHC bench termed the replies submitted by the alleged contemnors ‘evasive’ and declared that charges would be framed against them on Monday (today) in case they failed to submit the original copy of the affidavit. 

Rana in his statement had earlier said that his affidavit might have been ‘leaked’ by the UK’s Notary Public and published by the media. However, the IHC noted that the alleged contemnors had to discharge a heavy onus to satisfy the court about veracity of the published affidavit’s contents that appeared to be ‘false.’ 

IHC bench in its written order had termed the replies submitted by alleged contemnors ‘evasive’ and declared that charges would be framed if they failed to submit original copy of affidavit

He noted, “Perusal of the written reply submitted by Rana Mohammad Shamim shows that he has unequivocally taken the stance that he had neither circulated the affidavit to the press nor ‘shared it with anyone.’ He has further stated, ‘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.’ It has been stated that the copy of the statement was retained by the Notary Public in London for record.” 

Regarding Shamim’s assertions that he had overheard a phone conservation of ex-CJP Nisar with the IHC judge on July 15, 2018, Justice Minallah observed: “The judge named in the copy of the affidavit attached with the reply was availing sanctioned ex-Pakistan leave and was out of the country on July 15, 2018.” 

The IHC order said that the timing of news report publication was “crucial” as it related to the appeals fixed for hearing. “It also raises questions regarding the professional conduct of the reporter, editor and publisher of the widely circulated newspaper,” the order stated. 

The IHC Chief Justice Minallah issued the order after going through the reply submitted by Shamim in which he explained reasons for executing the statement on oath that former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar had made a call to an IHC judge and asked him not to release former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz before the 2018 general election. 

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 has neither been circulated to the press by the answering respondent nor it has been shared with anyone, with the intent that same may be made public. 

Rana added, “Since I had no intention to make it public in Pakistan during my lifetime, so I 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 has 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. 

“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.