Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday shared two more video clips on Twitter to validate her earlier claims that Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik had been ‘pressurised and blackmailed’ to convict former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.

“Judge Arshad Malik’s official car with a green number plate comes to escort Nasir Butt sb who then follows the car to Judge Sb’s residence. Belies all claims of Judge Arshad Malik sb that he mentioned in his press release,” Maryam posted on her Twitter handle along with two video clips.

Released by the PML-N leader on Wednesday, the first of the latest videos is shot by a person riding a motorcycle and shows a white sedan with a green number plate approaching a land cruiser before both vehicles drive away. Maryam claimed that the car in the video is Judge Arshad Malik’s ‘official car with a green number plate’ which escorted Nasir Butt, who then allegedly followed the car to the judge’s residence, adding that the video ‘belies all claims of Judge Arshad Malik [sahib] that he mentioned in his press release’.

In the second video, she claimed that it is Nasir Butt entering the judge’s residence. “Judge Arshad Malik sb comes in, greets Nasir sb & switches the lights on,” she tweeted.

Last week, a video purported to be about the conversation between Judge Malik and PML-N supporter Nasir Butt was played on a screen projector during a hurriedly called presser at the PML-N’s provincial headquarters in Lahore.

In a press release issued a day later, Judge Malik had acknowledged to have met Nasir Butt in the past, but rejected Maryam’s allegations that he had convicted Nawaz under any sort of pressure, saying that the former prime minister was convicted on the basis of evidence. “The videos shown during the press conference are fake and based on lies and assumptions,” the judge had said in the press release.

Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz received summons at Jati Umra residence to appear before the NAB court for presenting a fake trust deed in the Avenfield case. “You are hereby informed to appear before the accountability court on July 19,” the summons read.

Reacting to the summons, the politician said that she is being framed in another case as the government wants to detain her so that she cannot speak against them. “I was already sentenced in this fake case which was later suspended by the Islamabad High Court, but the government has opened it again in desperation,” she said.

Expressing concerns over NAB being used as a tool, she said she does not want to miss the opportunity to present all the facts before the nation. She said she doesn’t want to give her arrest on a plate to the government hence she will be appearing before the courts, and won’t lose the chance to expose the ‘selected’ and the NAB. “It has been exposed to the people how Nawaz was got convicted in a fake and baseless reference,” she said. Without naming Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said he was convicted by a US court in the past.