Former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Mohammad Shamim, who has accused former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar of judicial interference in the corruption references against PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, has had long-standing relations with the PML-N supremo and his party in the capacity of an officer-bearer as well as lawyer. According to Supreme Court advocate Ahmed Hassan Rana, the son as well as lawyer of the former GB top judge, his father has remained “in direct touch” with Nawaz and even met the PML-N supremo in England before the pandemic. Speaking in a private TV channel programme, Rana acknowledged that Justice Shamim had also served as the vice-president of PML-N Sindh in the past and was Nawaz’s lawyer in the Memogate scandal case. Advocate Rana, while refusing to answer any questions on his father’s behalf, said he himself was serving as the Punjab assistant advocate general at the time of Nawaz’s arrest in 2018 and also met the PML-N leader in jail. He said his father had last met Nawaz while visiting the UK before the coronavirus pandemic struck. “[Shamim] has remained [Nawaz’s] lawyer so the two have relations. They have direct relations,” Rana said. During the live programme, Rana appeared to take Justice Shamim live on a call to ask him about his meeting with Nawaz, but said that his father had responded with “no comments”. However, he read out a text from Shamim in which the former judge stated that he had not released the affidavit in question to any journalist, and that it may have been “leaked” from the office of the notary public in London who attested the document. While answering a question, Rana said his father would appear before the IHC on November 26, when the next hearing of the matter will be held. Appearing on another TV programme, Advocate Rana said he was not aware that his father would make the statement about Nisar while visiting London – where the affidavit in question was notarised – adding that he had not seen the actual affidavit, and only saw pictures of it. “I was made aware of this for the first time by a journalist a day earlier,” he added. When asked why was it notarised in London, Rana said “no comments”. He said a “special” Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should be constituted to resolve the matter because it involved the former chief justices of Pakistan as well as GB.