By BR Web Desk

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday deferred the indictment of former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim till December 20 in a case pertaining to allegations against former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar.

During the hearing conducted by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Shamim filed an application, saying that the affidavit will take at least three days to arrive, Aaj News reported on Monday.

Justice Minallah said that the public's trust in the court has been damaged by one news report, adding that the court would not tolerate any attempt to undermine public's confidence.

The court deferred indictment of the former G-B judge and ordered him to submit the original affidavit.

Last week, the IHC had warned that it would indict Shamim if he failed to submit the original affidavit on December 13 (today).

Shamim's name placed on PNIL

Last week, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that Rana Shamim’s name has been placed on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL). PNIL is a 30-day temporary travel restriction that was introduced in 2018 as an alternative to ECL.

He said Shamim's name was placed so that he could not run away. Rashid further said that a meeting would be held to decide whether to place the former judge's name on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Accusations against ex-CJP

A story published in The News stated that in 2018 Nisar influenced judicial proceedings to prolong the detention of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz following their conviction in the Avenfield apartments reference. As per the alleged affidavit, Shamim claims Nasir had traveled to GB for vacations in 2018 and on one occasion appeared “very disturbed” while speaking to his registrar on the phone, asking him to get in touch with a high court judge.

Shamim said that Nisar was finally able to get in touch with the judge and told him that Nawaz and Maryam must remain in jail until elections are over, after which “he became calm and happily demanded another cup of tea”.

According to the document, Shamim said he told Nisar that Nawaz had been falsely implicated, to which the former CJP replied: “Rana Sahib the chemistry of Punjab is different from GB.”

The article was originally published in Business Recorder on December 12, 2021.