Ex-CJP denies controversial audio leak as fabricated

ISLAMABAD: An alleged audio recording of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar reveals that he had given instructions to convict Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in order to bring Imran Khan into power.

The audio was released on Sunday night by Fact Focus, a US-based digital media platform, and reported by journalist Ahmad Noorani who claimed the audio has been forensically examined. Former CJP Nisar however, refuted the report and termed it a fabricated audio. The former CJP said he had just heard the audio and that it was not his voice.

When asked if he planned to sue the digital media platform, he said at the moment, he had no such intentions because he had just listened to the audio and had not thought about it. “God is my witness…I am being defamed by spreading such things deliberately,” he said.

The US-based digital media platform Fact Focus claimed it obtained this audio some two months ago and had it examined by a leading American firm specialising in multimedia forensics. Garret Discovery has a team of leading experts who have a long experience of analysing and presenting evidence and testifying before courts in the US. The firm’s analysis report certifies the integrity of the audio file and states that “this audio has not been edited in any way.”

According to the report, former CJP Nisar instructed that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz must be sentenced even though it was unfair. “Whether it is fair or not, it has to be done,” he conveyed to the person on the other end. “Regardless of the merit, we will have to do it [sentence Nawaz Sharif], and even to his daughter,” Justice Nisar allegedly said in the audio.

Soon after the report became public, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Aurangzeb took to Twitter demanding a treason case against the former CJP.

“After the confessional audio clip of Saqib Nisar, the punishment of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz has come to an end by all standards of justice. A case of treason against the constitution and law should be registered. This is a test of justice,” she tweeted.