Why has PML-N yet not presented the court with their “undeniable proof”?: Aitzaz Ahsan

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and senior advocate of the Supreme Court on tuesday wondered that why hasn’t PML-N still not approached the court with their strong evidence that can set their supreme leader Nawaz free from incarceration.

Ahsan noted that the accountability judge Arshad Malik agreed that the meeting did take place but he also added that there is “cutting and rendering” of the tape and has marked the tape “tempered”.

Ahsan expressed the view that in the press conference held by the party to bring the tape to the fore, Khawaja Haris, Sharif’s lead counsel, should have been sitting alongside the other members and should have declared that the party shall be submitting the tape to the court the very next day, along with a request to have it forensically examined and to expediently release Sharif from jail custody.

“For that, the person who recorded the audio will have to appear before the court and provide a testimony under oath. Similarly, the person who recorded the video will have to appear and also give a testimony under oath. A third person who cannot be identified, and whose arms and legs alone can be seen in the video, will have to appear as well”.

Ahsan added that any photographic evidence that is submitted in the court is not admissible until or unless the the photographer or videographer gives a testimony under oath that the evidence was surely taken by him and if the person doesn’t appear then, the evidence is of zero value.

He, however, also pointed out that the urgency should come from the PML-N’s side to see Sharif freed as soon as possible.

“They should say, ‘We have genuine evidence. We have that smoking gun with which the murder was committed.'”

“They should rush it to the courts and insist that the matter be pursued immediately. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal should delay this no further. And neither should Shehbaz Sharif, if he wishes to see his brother and ‘quaid’ released. He should, in fact, go to court himself.”

“Why should he wait for a suo motu?” Ahsan remarked.

When asked what reason could there be behind the party’s inaction to approach the court, the PPP leader said: “Then releasing the tape is just a political thing. The matter pertains to the court. Then,it is just the courts getting maligned. The judicial process, the legal process, and their image have all been severely tarnished.”

He said that rather than the courts “attempting to clear their name”, as proposed by the anchor, the PML-N should be impatient to do something.

“They have such an important piece of evidence in the case against Nawaz Sharif — if it is untampered. It is so important that they should be running to the court with it and pleading: ‘For God’s sake, release Nawaz Sharif today.'”

“And the court may very well, the next day, call in witnesses: Nasir Butt, person behind the camera, the one who did the editing, the streaming, etc,” he surmised.