Amid a controversy sparked by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz releasing ‘leaked’ video clips at a press conference and later on her Twitter handle, Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik called on Islamabad High Court Acting Chief Justice Amir Farooq on Thursday.
This was the second meeting of the accountability court judge with the IHC chief justice ever since Maryam Nawaz released the secretly shot video in which he appears to confess before PML-N supporter Nasir Butt that he was threatened to convict former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference case. Though no statement was issued regarding the meeting, there is strong possibility that the agenda was to deliberate over the ‘leaked’ video.
Earlier, Justice Farooq had also met with Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court was also moved to launch an inquiry into the video scandal. A constitutional petition, submitted by Ishtiaq 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 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. “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 added. “The details of 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,” the petition said.
