ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Tuesday (tomorrow) 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 the case wherein he had previously decided to open the sealed envelope of original affidavit of former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim on the next hearing to be held on Tuesday.
 In this case, the court had already 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. 
Previously, Lateef Afridi Advocate counsel for the former chief judge of GB informed the court that the affidavit had been submitted to the IHC and the former judge has been standing by his statement since the first day. He added that the real affidavit was sealed and has now been brought to Pakistan on the court’s order. 
Justice Athar said that the sealed envelope was in its original condition and had not been opened by the court yet. He also said that the attorney-general had said the media’s role is secondary. Rana Shamim has admitted that the content published in the newspaper is [the same as] in his affidavit. Rana Shamim has cast doubt on all judges of the IHC. 
When the IHC Chief Justice asked from Shamim’s lawyer to open the sealed envelope in which the affidavit was submitted to the court, Afridi replied that a new inquiry could be started by opening a sealed envelope. 
Then, Justice Athar said that the envelope would be opened on the next hearing in the presence of the attorney-general. He observed that the former chief judge of GB had apparently made a very big statement without any evidence and given an impression that all IHC judges were compromised. He continued that they would move forward in the light of Article 19 of the Constitution. 
The judge said that the court has not decided yet to indict Shamim in the contempt case. He further said that the case would be discharged if Shamim satisfied the court that they did not commit contempt of court. 
The IHC CJ noted that freedom of expression is one of the most important fundamental rights, which the court had also mentioned in its judgments — but the situation becomes different when the freedom of expression goes against public interest.