ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has issued pre-admission notices to Jang Group’s owner Mir Shakilur Rahman and its senior journalists Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghauri on the appeal of former Gilgit-Baltistan chief justice Rana Shamim against his indictment in a contempt of court case.

The contempt case stemmed from a report published in The News International last year that highlighted Mr Shamim’s affidavit in which he accused former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of instructing a high court judge to keep PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz incarcerated until 2018 general elections.

An IHC division bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar had also issued notices to the Attorney General and Advocate General Islamabad for legal assistance in this matter.

On Jan 20, a single-member IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah indicted Mr Shamim but deferred the framing of charges against Mr Rahman and the two journalists.

Mr Shamim’s counsel Abdul Latif Afridi argued before the division bench that the appellant had sworn an affidavit, kept the same in safe custody/locker of his grandson and had not given it to anyone for publication in the newspaper.

He said the journalists and the owner of the media house had admitted that they had published the affidavit in the newspaper, but they had not disclosed the source who had provided them with its copy.

He argued that Mr Shamim had not committed contempt of court, as he had not given the affidavit to anyone.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2022