Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday said an attempt was made to dent the image of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through an affidavit accusing former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of making an attempt to manipulate judicial proceedings against PML-N leaders Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Speaking in the National Assembly, he said it was stated in the affidavit that the former CJP had issued orders to the subordinate judges. He questioned the motive behind the affidavit which he said came to light after three years through a story that was published in a newspaper. “It was surprising that the judge who was accused was not even a member of the IHC bench, which shows the veracity of the allegations made in the affidavit,” he said. Without mentioning the name of former prime minister Nawaz, Qureshi said it was also clear in which city the oath was taken. “We all need to learn from our past.” “On the one hand, everyone is calling for the independence of the judiciary, but they do entirely the opposite to it.” “There were attacks on the Supreme Court and an attempt was made to take a decision from Justice Qayyum but nothing proved beneficial.” He said Rana Shamim issue was sub judice and he could not discuss it further, adding, “All of us should take notice of this, this is a dangerous matter.”

Later on, the affidavit of Rana Shamim came to light whose purpose was to influence the case or pressurize the court with delaying tactics, he said and added that now time had changed they could not influence the institutions as they did in the past.

Shahzad Akbar said the IHC had taken notice of the affidavit and started contempt proceedings after which Rana Shamim appeared in the court and claimed that he did not submitted this affidavit as it was in locker. The adviser said, it reported that the affidavit was signed in Nawaz Sharif’s Office in London as Nawaz Sharif wanted to influence the judiciary by sitting abroad.