Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Athar Minallah has said that the court will not tolerate any bid to thwart the provision of justice or shatter people\u2019s trust in judiciary saying if something conjures up after three years, it must have some grounds.<\/p>\n
He uttered these remarks while hearing a contempt case against former top judge of Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court Rana Shamim and three others including journalist Ansar Abbasi in Islamabad on Monday.<\/p>\n
The case pertains to an affidavit written by Mr Shamim and published in a newspaper accusing former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of colluding to deny bails to PML-N top leaders before 2018 general elections.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Minallah said according to Mr Shamim, the affidavit was leaked by the notary public and if this court sent Mr Shamim\u2019s reply to the regulator in England, then it would create a serious problem for the notary public over there.<\/p>\n
The high court in its previous hearing asked the former GB judge to submit his original affidavit which he claimed was in London and submit his reply.<\/p>\n
When Mr Shamim appeared before the court, it asked him and other involved parties to submit their affidavit\/declarations.<\/p>\n
After this, Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan read out the miscellaneous application of Mr Shamim. According to his application, the former GB judge said that his grandson had dispatched his original affidavit through courier service on Dec 9 and it would take three days to reach Pakistan.<\/p>\n
In his statement, Mr Shamim said if he wanted to humiliate the judiciary, he would have written down his affidavit in Pakistan and would have given it to media. <\/p>\n
The AGP told the court that there was difference in the narratives of Rana Shamim and journalist Ansar Abbasi who published his affidavit. He said he wanted to ask questions from parties involved in this case. He requested the IHC to ask Mr Shamim and Mr Abbasi to submit their replies to the court. He pleaded with the court to give the date for indictment as this was a fit case of indictment.<\/p>\n
The AGP requested the court to indict all persons involved in the contempt case. He pleaded with the court to start the indictment proceedings as soon as Mr Shamim\u2019s affidavit arrived.<\/p>\n
During the hearing, CJ Minallah said that no one was above the law. He said the Rana Shamim case was in fact his and other judges\u2019 accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lie has become truth and truth has become a lie. We cannot allow that people distrust the high court. If a justice seeker loses trust in courts, then nothing will be left there. No judge is a stakeholder for me, only the justice seekers are stakeholders for me\u201d the CJ remarked adding if people lost trust in this court then we could not even hear basic human rights cases.<\/p>\n
Journalist Ansar Abbasi denied the written statement of Mr Shamim saying that the latter did not tell him that his affidavit was \u2018privileged\u2019, nor did he tell him that it was not meant for publishing. <\/p>\n
Addressing Mr Abbasi, the visibly infuriating CJ said \u2018do you know how much damage your news has done to the reputation of the judiciary\u2019.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Minallah further asked if tomorrow some person in order to sully the good name of a judge wrote down an affidavit, would a newspaper publish the note without ascertaining any truth in it?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe headline of the news story gave an impression that judges take instructions. It should have also been mentioned in the story that the judge was on leave. Media cannot publish stories on appeals which have already been adjourned,\u201d the CJ added.<\/p>\n
He said people\u2019s trust in judiciary was shattered after the publication of Rana Shamim\u2019s story. He remarked that the chief editor and editor of the newspaper were responsible for this.<\/p>\n
CJ Minallah said that an editor-in-chief in England was sentenced to three months in jail for publishing a false story. We are hearing this case keeping in view the international standards of justice, he added.<\/p>\n
The judge asked Mr Abbasi to write his declaration and satisfy the court as charges could be framed against him. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till Dec 20. =<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Athar Minallah has said that the court will not tolerate any bid to thwart the provision of justice or shatter people\u2019s trust in judiciary saying if something conjures up after three years, it must have some grounds. He uttered these remarks while hearing a contempt case against former top judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-232629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n