The former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar termed an alleged leaked audio clip of his talk with an unidentified man, in which he purportedly passed instructions to sentence former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, along with his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, as “fabricated”.
“I have just heard the audio. It is fabricated audio,” said Nisar in his statement on Monday.
Read more: Ex-CJP Nisar rejects report about keeping Nawaz, Maryam in jail during 2018 polls
“Such [fabricated] things are being brought against me in the market. But Allah is watching. A well-organized campaign is being run against me,” claimed the former CJP and added that he had no intention of moving the court in this regard.
The alleged leaked audio
In the alleged leaked audio clip, the former chief justice could be heard as saying that “let me be a little blunt about it; unfortunately, here it is the ‘institutions’ that dictate judgments. In this case, we will have to penalise Mian Sahib [Nawaz Sharif].”
#FactFocus Exclusive :
Saqib Nisar, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, ordered to sentence Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz as "institutions" wanted to bring Imran Khan to power.
Fact Focus Youtube Video Linkhttps://t.co/AQZW3s5R3Z pic.twitter.com/oPFdTGt8S1— Fact Focus (@FactFocusFF) November 21, 2021
“And ‘they’ say ‘we shall bring Khan [Imran Khan] Sahib’. Regardless of the merit, we will have to do it, and even to his daughter [Maryam],” Nisar purportedly added.
“But, in my view, his daughter does not merit a sentence,” said the other unidentified person in the alleged leaked audio.
“You are absolutely correct. I did talk to ‘friends’ that something be done about this but they did not agree. There will be no independence of the judiciary, so let it be,” the former purportedly responded to the man.
The reactions
Responding to the alleged audio clip making rounds on social media, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said, “The emergence of a new audio clip of former chief justice shows how Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were targeted as part of a grand scheme to keep them out of [a] political process.”
The emergence of a new audio clip of former Chief Justice shows how Nawaz Sharif & Maryam Nawaz were targeted as part of a grand scheme to keep them out of political process. Time has come to right the wrongs inflicted on them. The nation looks forward to justice system.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) November 22, 2021
“Time has come to right the wrongs inflicted on them. The nation looks forward to [the] justice system.”
Here’s how Maryam reacted to the alleged leaked audio.
اللّہ اکبر 🙏🏼
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) November 21, 2021
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government continued to support the former CJP. Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter on Monday with an alleged audio clip of Nawaz Sharif and said, “Here is an example of what technology has done.”
ٹیکنالوجی نے کیا کیا کر دیا ہے، ایک مثال یہ ہے۔۔۔۔ https://t.co/BBVHP8WLJI
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 22, 2021
Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Accountability and Interior Mirza, Shahzad Akbar replied to Chaudhry’s tweet and said.”Even leaks are no longer authentic.”
Read more: PML-N wants Saqib Nisar behind bars if ex-CJ G-B statement against him is true
Earlier, Saqib Nisar had also rejected a media report that claimed he had ordered not to release Nawaz and Maryam during the 2018 elections. The former CJP had rubbished the allegations levelled against him by a former chief judge of the apex court Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim as “contrary to the facts”.
