Referring to a news report, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that now it had emerged that Rana Shamim, former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), had signed his ‘affidavit’ in the presence of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in London, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In a tweet, he said now it had been established as to why the former prime minister and his family were called the Sicilian mafia by the Supreme Court (SC) in its remarks during the Panama leaks hearing against him.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that now it was a settled fact that Shamim was an office-bearer of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Lawyers’ Wing.
In a tweet, he said that even his son had admitted that; and that too in a television programme.
“And another startling revelation is that the much-talked about affidavit which the former judge said he had signed was in the presence of Nawaz Sharif in London so that the institution of judiciary could be defamed by levelling the allegation that the courts were pressured to deny bails to Nawaz and his daughter, PML-Vice President Maryam Nawaz,” he said, and added, “That was precisely why the former prime minister had been called a ‘godfather’.”
He concluded his tweet with a famous Urdu adage, Rassi Jal gae, magar bal nahi gya’ (meaning that despite being a convict and in self-imposed exile, Nawaz Sharif is still utilizing all means possible to sneak into power again).
English daily has published a story today (Sunday) according to which Rana Shamim had signed the affidavit in the office of Nawaz Sharif in London.
According to the report, Rana Shamim took the oath and signed an affidavit in the office of none other than Mian Nawaz Sharif, trying to incriminate former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and honourable sitting judges of Islamabad High Court.
The affidavit, whose contents mention a three-year-old alleged incident, accused the former top judge of trying to coerce a judgment from a sitting Islamabad High Court judge against the ousted Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
In the evidence available, Charles Guthrie; a UK Solicitor confirmed that ‘Judge Guy’ was at ‘Marble Arch’.
Stanhope Place, Marble arch was listed on Companies House records as one of the offices of Flagship Developments Limited, of which Hasan Nawaz Sharif is one of the directors and it has been the central meeting point of a lot of PML-N leadership in London with Mian Nawaz Sharif.
Stanhope House is where Nawaz Sharif’s important meetings are held and the place he held his last press conference before leaving for Pakistan and surrendering himself to the authorities.
Until now, Rana Shamim has never answered the question about his meeting with the PML-N supremo. On every single media encounter outside a court in Pakistan, he responded with “no comments”.
But, in the evidence available, Charles Guthrie himself confirms that the Judge was present in the Marble arch. These revelations are important at a time when contempt proceedings are underway in the Islamabad High court against a Pakistani newspaper that had published the contents of the affidavit in question.
In the evidence, Charles Guthrie has confirmed three times, that Rana Shamim was present at Marble Arch.
Guthrie stated in the evidence that “the judge guy was in Nawaz Sharif’s office.” When asked in the evidence “That was which office? Like here in London?”, Guthrie responded “Marble Arch.”
In the evidence, Guthrie was further asked: “He was in Nawaz Sharif’s office? They were like quite cozy when they were in there?”
To that, the notary replied, “Very… yeah.”
Reporter: Kifayat Ali Shah