AG Islamabad asks chief commissioner to place former GB CJ on ECL

Advocate General Niazullah Naizi on Tuesday requested the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) chief commissioner to place the name of former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim on the Exit Control List (ECL) due to contempt proceedings against him, according to a news outlet.

In a letter, the prosecutor general said the former judge is a “flight risk”. “Should he flee the country, serious prejudice may be caused to the ongoing proceedings and in effect to the rule of law and independence of the judiciary,” he wrote in the letter.

“The next date of hearing is 13-12-2021 and therefore immediate action is required.”

Earlier in the day, the IHC gave last chance to Shamim to submit the original affidavit he authored and signed in London by December 13 in the contempt of court case.

The hearing was conducted by Chief Justice Athar Minallah wherein Shamim, reporter Ansar Abbasi, The News Editor Aamir Ghauri and others appeared.

Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan and Niazi also attended the court.

In the affidavit, Shamim had claimed that Saqib Nisar had told a high court judge to keep Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif in jail till the 2018 general elections. He had also alleged that he had heard the conversation when the former CJP was visiting GB before the 2018 elections.

It is pertinent to mention that Nisar had denied the claims and said: “I have never spoken to anybody or any high court judge in connection to any matter related to Mr Sharif.”

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