The family of former Chief Justice of Gilgit Baltistan (CJ-GB) Rana Shamim called for a probe into contents of the affidavit. Rana Shamim’s family also demanded strict action against some members of the PTI government.
The petitioners included the entire family of Rana Shamim’s son Ahmad Hassan Rana, including his wife, son, and daughter. The family filed the petition through Ahmad Hassan, who is an advocate at Supreme Court. They sought disqualification of PTI ministers and leaders and requested for initiation of contempt of court proceedings against them.
Read more: Rana Shamim’s son thinks signing affidavit in Nawaz’s office is not a big deal
In the petition, they named the law secretary, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman, federal ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Faisal Vawda, minister of state Farrukh Habib, Member of National Assembly Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan.
The family also demanded action against TV anchorpersons Badami, the registrar of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Supreme Appellate Court, the registrar of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University of Law, and the advocate general for Punjab.
According to the family, they faced demeaning questions on Rana Shamim, calling it “mental harassment.”
Furthermore, they stated that the TV Channels aired programs that character assassinated Rana Shamim. To clarify, Vawda, Chaudhry, Sadaqat Abbasi, and Habib made allegations against Shamim on various TV shows. The petition stated that such allegations against Rana Shamim brought great anguish to the family.
Therefore, the petition seeks disqualification of Chaudhry and Vawda, and apology from Habib. It also seeks punishment for anchorpersons for violating PEMRA’s code of conduct.
Senator Faisal Vawda calls for public lunching of former ‘retired and retarded’ Gilgit Baltistan Chief Judge Rana Shamim for implicating ex CJP Saqib Nisar in his affidavit for being involved in manipulation of judiciary to keep @NawazSharifMNS @MaryamNSharif in jail at any cost pic.twitter.com/z8168JdcUm
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) November 16, 2021
Controversy surrounding Rana Shamim’s affidavit
Important to note, the court already initiated a contempt of court proceedings against Rana Shamim, journalist Ansar Abbasi, and those responsible for publishing the explosive report on former CJ-GB’s affidavit incriminating former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.
Ever since the report was published, there has been a lot of controversies regarding the affidavit which put its authenticity into question.
In a hearing, Rana Shamim said he didn’t know how the journalist got hold of his affidavit. He said the sealed affidavit was with this family and submitted the original affidavit. Rana Shamim admitted that the content published in the newspapers was not the same as the contents of the affidavit.
Read more: Saqib Nisar reacts to leaked audio clip, calls it fake
Furthermore, in a separate hearing, Abbasi had said the newspaper would have published the affidavit even if it “may be wrong”.
A media report also emerged claiming that Rana Shamim signed the affidavit trying to incriminate Mian Saqib Nisar in PML-N’s London office. The revelations came owing to a statement by UK solicitor Charles Guthrie who notarized the affidavit.
The report caused quite a storm in Pakistan. PTI leaders began lambasting the Sharif family. People began believing that Nawaz Sharif family manufactured the whole issue to gain the public’s sympathy. As a result, the claims and ambiguities threw the authenticity of the affidavit into question.