ISLAMABAD: Former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim on Monday submitted his affidavit to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and asserted that he has not leaked, circulated or published the affidavit in which he levelled allegations against former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the case against Rana Shamim.
During the hearing, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Qasim Wadood appeared before the court and informed the bench that the Attorney General for Pakistan could not attend the proceedings due to his engagements in the Supreme Court. At this, the court adjourned the case till April 26 in this matter.
Rana Shamim in his current affidavit stated that the deponent did not disclose it to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) at the time as one of the person mentioned in the said affidavit i.e. the Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was the head of the SJC and the deponent retired within six weeks of the incident.
He added that furthermore, the incident had happened outside the jurisdiction of Pakistan. He continued that the facts written in the affidavit dated 10-11-2021 are mere narration of whatever the deponent had seen and heard. The deponent had no intention to disclose these facts during his lifetime to anyone but in furtherance to his promise made to his late beloved wife and due to the stressful circumstances (the successive deaths of his family members) led him to put these facts in the form of an affidavit which was not disclosed to anyone.
“The deponent has not leaked circulated or published the affidavit dated 10-11-2021 in any form or through any medium. The alleged contemnors who have admittedly obtained and published the contents of the affidavit have not been proceeded against by this Hon’ble Court,” said the former GB judge.
He further said, “The deponent can only affirm the truth to the extent of the facts that occurred in the Gilgit-Baltistan in his presence. Ansar Abbasi has admittedly obtained the affidavit and published the contents of the affidavit. However, it is not in the deponent’s knowledge as to how Mr Abbasi came into possession of the contents of the affidavit.”
He asserted, “The deponent never allowed Mr Abbasi to publish the affidavit or its contents. The deponent did receive a call from Mr Abbasi, however, the deponent was at his native village for the final ceremonies and rituals of his late brother. Therefore, because of the poor mobile network connection the deponent never got to speak to Mr Abbasi. That deponent reiterates that the contents of the affidavit were never confirmed to anyone let alone publishing or circulating them.”
He maintained that the reason behind its execution was the promise made to the late wife, and the deponent was constrained to record the affidavit due to quick succession of deaths in the family including his brother in months preceding the execution of affidavit. Rana adopted the stance that it will be against all established principles of fairness and justice to hold the deponent guilty of a criminal offence that is criminal contempt without establishing the basic tenets of a criminal offence.
Shamim stated that it will be completely unjust to take any adverse action against the deponent without proving that the deponent was responsible for publishing the affidavit. It can only be done through inquiring into how the other respondents i.e. Ansar Abbasi came into possession of the facts mentioned in the affidavit, without such an inquiry being undertaken, holding the deponent (Dr Rana Muhammad Shamim) guilty would be akin to convicting him without due process.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.