Ansar Abbasi files application to make correction in IHC’s latest order

ISLAMABAD: Journalist Ansar Abbasi has filed an application before the honorable Chief Justice Islamabad High Court for correction of a clerical error in the State Vs Ansar Abbasi case’s order dated 28.12.2021.

In his application filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on January 31 2021, The News journalist Ansar Abbasi has pointed out that the honorable Chief Justice IHC's order contains a clerical error attributed to him which he hasn’t made before the honorable court.

According to the application, the Applicant (Ansar Abbasi) is said to have stated the following, "They (Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghauri) were explicitly asked whether they would report and publish the copy of a leaked document in the form of an affidavit if it contained untrue facts intended to influence the outcome of pending judicial proceeding. They answered that they would do so if it was in the public interest because their role was of a mere ‘messenger’.”

Abbasi pointed out that the Applicant could not have made and never made the above statement before the Honourable Court. The Applicant thus most humbly seeks the indulgence of this Honourable Court to order that the words reproduced in para 1 of this Application be expunged from its order dated 28.12.2021 as they appear to have been inserted through some clerical error perhaps because of Applicant's poor communication skills.

“The Applicant’s position has been clear from the very outset of these contempt proceedings that he merely reported the existence of the affidavit of a person, a person who was far from ordinary, as that person had held the topmost judicial position in Gilgit Baltistan. Also, that the Applicant had absolutely NO knowledge that the facts sworn in the affidavit were FALSE or TRUE,” says the application.

It is further said that even otherwise, the Applicant believed that he was publishing a story about the existence of the affidavit, without in any way claiming that the facts stated therein were true. The Applicant merely intended to report the existence of an affidavit, not about the veracity of the facts narrated in it.

“It was in the context that while doing the story, the Applicant verified from Mr Rana Shamim the content of his affidavit besides getting the viewpoint of the former CJP Saqib Nisar, who was alleged in the affidavit, which was published in the story. In addition, The News published the story without naming the judge of the High Court mentioned in the sworn statement notarized in London,” says Ansar Abbasi’s application.

“The Applicant also stated before the Honourable Court that he had contacted Mr Shamim BEFORE the publication of the story and that Mr Shamim never asked him not to publish the story as his affidavit was privileged. That lastly, the story was done in good faith without any malice. For the same reason, reasonable care was taken such as not publishing the name of the judge or even the name of the High Court,” says the application.

Abbasi further clarified that from the above, it should be clear and the Applicant further emphasises his position that he never thought or meant to cast any aspersion on any serving judge or the entire judiciary or to influence the outcome of any case.