Ex-CJ Nisar under spotlight over audio leaks — again

Former top judge tells Tariq Rahim to study suo motu case wherein contempt proceedings disqualified Gilani as PM

ISLAMABAD:

The season of audio leaks has apparently started again with a clip allegedly featuring former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and PTI legal adviser Khawaja Tariq Rahim surfacing on social media on Tuesday in which both men could be heard discussing legal matters apparently of political significance.

A day earlier, an audio recording of  two women speaking had stirred up a hornet’s nest in the country’s political scenario, one of whom apparently the mother-in-law of a serving Supreme Court judge and the other believed to be the wife of PTI’s Rahim.

However, the audio clip leaked on Tuesday allegedly featured the main players themselves.

After exchanging pleasantries in Punjabi,  Nisar can purportedly be heard bringing a specific seven-judge bench's judgment to Rahim’s attention.

Upon this, the other voice, allegedly that of Rahim, seeks further explanation.

“It is suo motu number 4 of 2010,” Nisar apparently responded. “Sir, it is a seven-member judgment reported on Supreme Court 2012 page 553,” the ex-top judge allegedly added.

The PTI lawyer can be heard responding that he will look into it.

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“Whoever is your lawyer, tell him to go through it out. It states that if … never mind, you’ll know when you will read it,” the voice alleged to be Nisar’s continues.

“I have also seen that seven-member bench judgment where it states until the act is not formulated… if you read it carefully, clause three has it,” Rahim can be heard saying.

Nisar apparently responds in the affirmative,. “Yes sir, I have seen it. That is definitely our way out,” the ex-top judge allegedly added.

“That is the way out,” confirms the other.

“Because otherwise, there was no case in the first place,” the former CJP purportedly continued, to which the lawyer apparently also admits.

The former CJP apparently says if any person from the PTI legal team is willing, they can use the Munir Ahmed Khan [verdict] which is a clear case of contempt of court.

“That too … that too,” Rahim purportedly says after which the ex-CJP allegedly says “after what happened in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, I don’t think there is any…”

Rahim allegedly interrupted the other man, saying the are only waiting for the three-member bench’s verdict.

“It can take another half an hour. After that, we are filing a contempt application,” the voice believed to be that of Rahim adds.

The suo motu case of 2010 discussed in the alleged audio leak pertains to the contempt proceedings against former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani whereby the apex court had declared him ineligible to hold office in 2012.

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The audio leak has emerged just days before a top court bench, comprising CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, is set to resume the hearing of a case related to elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier this month, the SC, while hearing a PTI petition, directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold general elections in Punjab on May 14 but the government rejected its orders.

Last week, the apex court gave the political parties a week’s time to reach a consensus on the elections date so that they could be held on the same day across the country.

The SC is expected to continue hearing the case on April 27.

In response to the clip, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif tweeted that he was disappointed to hear the audio.

He added that former CJP Nisar had moved way too far in his vendetta against PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif.

“You took revenge on Nawaz Sharif and sentenced him. How long will you continue to feed on this poison?” he added.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also took to Twitter to express her utter disapproval.

Dubbing the continued constitutional crisis a case of “mothers-in-law and Dam Baba vs Constitution of Pakistan,“ she said the “competition is tough and the time running out”.

بیگمات ساس بچے ڈیم بابا بمقابلہ آئینِ پاکستان ، مقابلہ سخت وقت کم ! pic.twitter.com/OILsdwVgFb

— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) April 25, 2023

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar while addressing a new conference termed the clip as “unfortunate”.

He added that the ex-top judge should be more careful because of the “people’s perception” about him.

Azam claimed that the conversation clearly showed that the former CJP was guiding the PTI about what needed to be done.

“He can be heard giving references of judgments. This is a very difficult situation,” he added.

Terming the audio recording a violation of his right to privacy, he described it is a theft of his “fundamental rights”.

“I am a citizen of Pakistan, a former CJP and I give free advice to those in office. Khawaja Tariq Rahim is a friend and I gave him advice,” he said.

However, ex-CJP Nisar questioned the authenticity of the audio clip.