ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Tuesday, said that the Supreme Court (SC) should investigate the claims made by former chief judge of the apex court of Gilgit-Baltistan, Rana Mohammad Shamim, regarding the alleged role of former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar in the denial of bail to Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in corruption cases.
Abbasi, while talking to media after appearing before the Accountability Court in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case, said that the NAB chairman should tell the nation that how much recovery he has made from politicians during his tenure.
According to his information, since inception of the NAB, the bureau has only convicted one politician and his name is Nawaz Sharif, he said.
Former premier said that the conviction of Sharif continuing for the last three years and his appeal is not heard.
The fact behind not hearing of Sharif’s appeal has also now surfaced, he said.
“On Monday an affidavit on oath of the former chief judge of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan has surfaced and claimed that the then CJP Nisar had made a phone call to an IHC judge in front of him for lingering the petition seeking release of Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on bail until the 2018 general elections were over.”
Abbasi further said that the matters have gone so low that the country’s chief justice even tried to influence bail proceeding of the PML-N leadership and elections. If former chief justice Saqib Nisar wants to bail himself out, he needs to give an affidavit like former judge Rana Shamim submitted under oath. Former chief justice should say in the affidavit that he did not contacted the IHC judge and registrar, he said.
If the former chief justice is unable to clear his name, then who will have confidence over the court, he asked.
“Who will believe in Supreme Court,” he said, adding that today is a test of the Supreme Court as allegation have been leveled against a former chief justice of Pakistan.
Whether higher judiciary cannot ask from its chief justice that why you had interfered in the elections and why you influenced bail to Sharif and his daughter? Who had authorised you?
Abbasi said that today the same judge whose name surfaced was hearing appeal of Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.
Despite passage of three years, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has yet to tell the court as to what was his crime.
“We tolerated that. But the NAB chairman will not be able to tolerate that. The present chairman NAB will be standing in the witness box in the court behind me,” he said, adding, “You (the NAB chairman) are leveling false allegation and making fake cases against everyone.”
Without naming the NAB chairman, he said that the person who completes his employment period, needs to go home.
The extension granted to the chairman through an ordinance raises questions, he said.
Earlier, the other accused appeared before Accountability Court-II judge Muhammad Azam Khan.
During the hearing, Abbasi’s counsel Barrister Zafarullah Khan regarding the jurisdiction of accountability court, said that after the promulgation of the NAB (Second Amendment) Ordinance, the jurisdictions of the Accountability Court and the NAB has ended.
He said that the LNG agreement was not made by an individual and rather the deal was made by the federal cabinet and the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
After completion of the arguments of Abbasi’s counsel the court adjourned hearing of the case till November 23.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.