ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved verdict on the maintainability of a petition filed by the family of former Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) chief judge Rana Shamim for taking action against some federal ministers and television anchorpersons for defaming him.
The petition was filed by Rana Shamim’s family members including the son Ahmad Hassan Rana, daughter-in-law Anum Ahmed Rana and their children, Mohammad Hamza Rana and Areeba Ahmed Rana in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday.
It may be noted here that the IHC had initiated contempt of court proceedings against Rana Shamim, journalists Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghauri, and Mir Shakilur Rehman, the editor-in-chief of Jang Group who are likely to be indicted on January 20.
In the petition, Rana Shamim’s family sought action against some federal ministers and television anchorpersons for defaming him besides calling for a probe into the revelations made by the former chief judge in his affidavit.
IHC likely to indict Rana Shamim, MSR, Ansar Abbasi, others in contempt case
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, TV anchorpersons of ARY News including Kashif Abbasi and Waseem 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 have been cited as respondents in the petition.
It read that the frivolous allegations aired on ARY News television programmes against Rana Shamim had anguished his family.
Furthermore, the family had also urged the high court to probe into the revelations made by the former chief judge in his affidavit.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the petition to decide on its maintainability on Tuesday (today).
Original affidavit
Earlier on December 27, Rana Shamim had opened his original affidavit after confirming before the court that it was the same documents he sealed himself.
Rana Shamim contempt case: PML-N comes under IHC radar
On December 13, Rana Shamim had submitted the affidavit to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) following a warning of contempt case if he fails to submit the original affidavit.
Allegations against ex-CJP: Rana Shamim to face contempt charges if he fails to submit affidavit today
Analysts had said that the production of an affidavit by Rana Shamim will ascertain the originality of the ‘leaked affidavit’ of Ansar Abbasi’s report in The News.
The accuracy of the leaked affidavit’s content with the original one would prevent Ansar Abbasi, Jang Group owner Mir Shakilur Rehman and editor in-charge from facing contempt charges by the IHC for publishing a report without scrutinising the facts.
The revelations had been made in a ‘leaked’ affidavit that was published in a report of Ansar Abbasi, an investigative reporter of ‘The News’, on November 10 to which Shamim’s counsel admitted that the content of the ‘leaked’ affidavit was indeed accurate.
Rana Shamim had levelled serious allegations against ex-CJP Mian Saqib Nisar of committing judicial manipulation by making a call to an IHC judge in which he had asked him to deny bails to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz besides seeking to ensure to keep them in prison until 2018 general elections.