Islamabad High Court order removal of judge Arshad Malik over video leak fiasco

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday decided to remove accountability judge Arshad Malik from his post, officials said, following a controversy revolving around the ‘leaked’ video tape of the judge.

Judge Malik, on Dec 4, 2018, had handed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference. He, however, had acquitted him in a second reference related to Flagship Investments, saying “there was no case against Nawaz”.

On July 6, PML-N vice president Maryam Safdar opened a Pandora’s box with a startling claim that the judge “confessed” he had been “pressurised and blackmailed” to convict her father in the Al-Azizia reference. A video containing the judge’s alleged confession during his conversation with a ‘sympathiser’ of the PML-N, Nasir Butt, was screened during a hurriedly called presser at the party’s provincial headquarters in Model Town.

The judge, on July 7, denied being under any pressure, but admitted that Nasir Butt was an acquaintance.

On Friday, judge Malik wrote a letter to IHC acting Chief Justice Aamer Farooq in which he said that the videos shared by Maryam were fake. He also filed an affidavit before the IHC chief justice along with his letter.

Justice Farooq perused the letter but decided to relieve judge Malik without conducting an inquiry since he is an official of the subordinate judiciary of the LHC.

The IHC judge directed the registrar office to write a letter to the law ministry regarding relieving judge Malik of his post and repatriating him to the parent department, the Lahore High Court.

Shortly after the announcement, Maryam Safdar — who shared the video at a press conference on Saturday — called for the verdict against her father former president Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia reference to be declared void.