ISLAMABAD, July 11: Senior accountability court judge Arshad Malik – the central character of the secretly shot video in which he appears to confess before a PML-N supporter Nasir Butt that he was threatened to convict former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference case – met Acting Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Amir Farooq on Thursday.
Justice Farooq had met with the Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa.
While no statement was issued to the media regarding the meeting, there is strong possibility that its agenda was to deliberate over the
‘leaked’ video shared by PML-N during a news conference last week.
Judge Malik had also met with Justice Farooq on Monday. However, the IHC did not pass any order in this matter.
Acting IHC chief justice meets CJP Khosa to discuss ‘leaked’ video
Meanwhile, Supreme Court was also moved today to launch an inquiry into the video scandal that broke during a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) news conference on July 6.
A constitutional petition, submitted by Ishtiaq Ahmed Mirza through his lawyer Chaudhry Munir Sadiq at the top court, named the federal government, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Safdar, senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Nasir Butt and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) as respondents.
It requested the court to initiate a contempt of court proceedings against all the entities involved in the scandal.
“In a bid to maintain dignity of the judiciary, contempt of court proceedings should be initiated against the people who are behind the case. With this inquiry, all the questions targeting the credibility and freedom of judiciary will get answers,” it said. The constitutional petition added, “It appears, with the leaked video, questions have been raised against the freedom of the judiciary. The video suggests that the judiciary does not work the way it should be and gets blackmailed.” It said that details of the July 6 press conference by Shehbaz and Maryam should be sought from Pemra and a probe should be held to clarify all the accusations levelled against the judiciary.
“Although judge Malik has denied being blackmailed into convicting Nawaz for graft last year, the mentioning of a bribe offer in his press release is of serious importance.” The constitutional petition said, “Maryam’s allegations against the judiciary fall into the category of contempt of court.”-Agencies
