PML-N demands Nawaz’s release

Marriyum says decision of a trail court once again exposed ‘lies and forgery’ of premier

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, while commenting on the release of the accused in judge video case, has said it is another proof that former premier Nawaz Sharif is innocent and must be released immediately.

Marriyum said the decision has once again exposed the ‘lies and forgery’ of the prime minister and has proven that he has abused power by using the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for his vengeful act”.

"The decision proved the fact that another of your cruel conspiracies fell flat on its face. The day is not far when your lies and forged cases against Rana Sanaullah, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Hamza Shehbaz, Saad Rafique, Salman Rafique and others will meet the same fate. Your blatant lies will soon be revealed," she said.

“The prime minister should not to try his hand at more false and fictitious cases because he would not be able to hide behind such jiggery-pokery anymore,” she added. She said the “incompetence, inability, mindless vengeance and blatant lies of Imran Khan has been laid bare by the verdict”.

Three suspects, Nasir Janjua, Ghulam Jilani and Khurram Yousaf were set free by a judicial magistrate from the FIA custody after no evidence was found against them in connection with an investigation into a video leak scandal involving former accountability court judge Arshad Malik.

The three were arrested earlier this week and sent on a five-day physical remand. They were picked up in connection with Judge Malik's FIR against them for allegedly pressurising and blackmailing him.

During an earlier hearing, Janjua's counsel had maintained that the FIA's report stated that the plan to record the video — in which judge Malik allegedly confessed to convicting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference under pressure, according to the PML-N — was hatched by Nasir Butt, and that his clients had nothing to do with it.

Judge video controversy

Judge Malik — who in December last year sentenced Nawaz Sharif to seven years imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference and acquitted him in the Flagship Investment case — has been at the centre of controversy since July 6, when PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz alleged that he had been "blackmailed" into giving the verdict against her father.

According to judge Malik's affidavit — presented to the Islamabad High Court chief justice as a rebuttal to Maryam's press conference — an old acquaintance of his, Tariq Mahmood, had been the one to show him a "secretly recorded manipulated immoral video [showing him] in a compromising position" that was shot while the judge was serving in Multan.

The judge claimed that this video was later used by Sharif's long-time supporter Butt to blackmail him.