ISLAMABAD - Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday called upon former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to “have courage” and share with the public who had allegedly pressured him to convict her and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
She was addressing a press conference here, days after an alleged audio tape of the former top judge was leaked. Her remarks come three days after the emergence of an audio clip, purportedly of a conversation between Nisar and an unidentified man regarding the Nawaz and Maryam trial.
Flanked by Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal, Maryam said the latest allegation regarding judicial interference was the fifth testimony in favour of Nawaz, and reiterated that the PML-N supremo was ousted from power unfairly. She said the leaked audio clip of former chief justice Saqib Nisar was a proof of the ex-top judge’s involvement in influencing the case against former premier Nawaz Sharif.
The PML-N leader claimed that former justice Nisar murdered justice and this alleged audio of the top judge proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. She said the ex-chief justice will have to answer for his actions. “On whose orders, the chief justice of Pakistan had to commit an illegal act,” she questioned, adding that he will have to answer to the nation.
She said the judiciary should not bear the burden of Saqib Nisar’s sins and distance itself from the entire episode.
Maryam said that the judiciary could still provide justice to ex-PM Nawaz and redeem itself. The former top judge has denied that the voice in the clip is his, terming the audio fabricated.
Maryam further said that a propaganda has started against the US company that carried out the forensic of the audio clip and reportedly stated that it had not been edited or tampered with. “Attempts are being made to raise objections on the clip’s authenticity,” said Maryam adding that certain channels were doing the propaganda that the clip had been made by compiling Nisar’s words uttered on different occasions, but questioned in which speech the judge had said the most incriminating lines of the alleged audio leak that, “Maryam and Nawaz were convicted and sentenced on the instructions of institutions”. She asked those channels why they had not focused on the above lines and tried to prove that they had not been uttered by Nisar.
The PML-N leader said Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui also made a startling statement, while former accountability judge Arshad Malik was punished for speaking the truth. She said although the two judges had been punished, nobody dared to come forward to provide justice to Nawaz Sharif. “I want to tell Saqib Nisar that he will have to tell the nation the truth. Who forced you to convict Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz? Who asked you to bring Imran Khan [into power]?” she said while addressing the former chief justice. “If Nawaz didn’t deserve the punishment, then why did you play with the justice system? You were sitting in the highest forum and why could you not refuse orders to convict Nawaz Sharif?, she added.
“You will have to give its answer to the people. Leave the audio, leave the Gilgit-Baltistan judge’s affidavit, and the statements of former judges and FIA’s Bashir Memon. This is the fifth testimony in favour of Nawaz Sharif. Will the nation forget these testimonies? Can you deny that an elected prime minister was removed from power unjustly?,” she asked Nisar.
“I want Saqib Nisar to get a forensic audit conducted, face the law and build a dam from the money he gets after winning the case,” she said, calling upon the judiciary “not to bear the burden of someone whose truth is now out”.
Stressing politicians’ responsibility to protect the prestige of the judiciary, the PML-N leader stated: “Judiciary is bigger than these individuals. We don’t want to take matters beyond a certain point [and] the judiciary should clear its name itself.”
She then quoted former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa as writing in the Panama Papers case judgement that “Behind every great fortune, there is a crime,” and said: “The crime and conspiracy that took place before the 2018 elections also stand exposed before everyone now.”
There are no proofs against me and I was sentenced to prison for seven years. Now NAB has no evidence to furnish in the Islamabad High Court, she added. She claimed that the accountability watchdog had no evidence against her. She said that more than 400 Pakistanis were named in the Panama Papers Leaks but no one was punished except Nawaz Sharif.
Maryam said it was the anti-graft watchdog that was asking for adjournment in her case, referring to the government slamming her counsel’s request seeking adjournment of Avenfield reference hearing in IHC for having to attend hearings at the Supreme Court. “I am not asking for an adjournment,” she said.