ISLAMABAD: Former Gilgit-Baltistan chief judge Dr Rana Muhammad Shamim has challenged his indictment in a contempt of court case in connection with an affidavit he executed alleging former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar attempted to influence a case against the Sharif family.

The court had taken notice of a news report about the affidavit published in The News and initiated the proceeding against Dr Shamim, Jang Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakeelur Rehman, Investigation Editor Ansar Abbasi and Resident Editor Aamir Ghauri.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had on Jan 20 indicted Mr Shamim over the affidavit that alleged that the former CJP called and instructed a high court judge to keep former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz incarcerated in the Avenfield reference until the 2018 general election. However, the court had deferred framing of charges against the journalists and Mr Rehman.

Dr Shamim, in the intra-court appeal filed through Advocate Latif Afridi on Monday, pleaded that “during the proceedings the honourable single judge maintained in the open court that these proceedings are not contempt proceedings but they should be considered an inquiry. However, while passing the impugned order the honourable court instead of carrying out the proceedings as inquiry proceedings framed charges only against the appellant”.

The appeal termed it against the criminal law of deferral of charge against the co-accused. It said the appellant has categorically denied giving or leaking the affidavit to any individual. There is no evidence on record that demonstrates his involvement in any leakage and publishing of the affidavit in the newspaper. Singling him out in the criminal proceedings is against Article 10-A of the Constitution and discriminatory, it added.

Citing an earlier order of the IHC that referred to the stance of the media house that the “publication of a document in the form of affidavit was their duty in public interest even if the contents were false”, the appeal added the court had noted “if this argument is accepted then anyone, including litigants, will be justified to indirectly influence the outcome of pending judicial proceedings”.

The appeal further stated the contents of the affidavit were published in the news report, and “had the contents not been published no alleged contempt would have been committed”, adding that “mere writing of the affidavit is not contempt. Writing of an affidavit without publication is akin to mere thoughts of the appellant. No one can be convicted for merely having certain thoughts”.

According to the appeal, the charge sheet against the appellant was framed over presumptions. “The Honourable Single judge has presumed that the appellant has leaked, circulated and published the affidavit” and ignored that there was no malice or bad intention of the appellant for publication of the news story. Subsequently, Dr Shamim requested the court to set aside the indictment and quash the contempt proceedings.

The former chief judge, in a statement submitted before IHC Chief Justice Minallah in January, had stated that after consecutive deaths of five of his close relatives, including his wife, he decided to write an affidavit to set the record straight. He signed the affidavit on Nov 10, 2021 without disclosing the contents to anyone, placed it in a sealed envelope and handed it over to his grandson, who was studying in the UK at the time.

He explained that he had gone to the US to attend a symposium where he had been invited as the chief guest. He was due to return on Nov 17, 2021 however on Nov 6 he received the unfortunate and saddening news of the death of his brother, therefore, he cut short his trip and left for Pakistan on Nov 7. Since he could not get a direct flight to Pakistan, he had to transit through London where he reached on Nov 8 to board a flight for Karachi via Dubai on Nov 10.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2022