Staff Reporter
Lahore
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Friday dismissed the controversial, judge Arshad Malik from his post. The decision was taken by the administration committee of the LHC. The meeting was chaired by Lahore High Court Chief Justice and attended by seven other senior judges.
The other judges that attended the meeting included Justices Ameer Bhatti, Malik Shahzad Khan, Ayesha Malik, Shahid Waheed and Ali Baqar Najafi.
Judge Malik’s career went down the hill after PML-N in 2019 released a video clip purportedly showing the accountability court judge allegedly admitting to a lack of evidence against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.
PML-N Vice-President and Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz showed the alleged video and read out its transcript at a press conference lasting more than an hour. The video purportedly shows the accountability court judge speaking to a PML-N worker named Nasir Butt and claiming that he was coerced to hand down the prison sentence against Nawaz Sharif despite there being no proof of corruption against the deposed premier.
Shahbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz said that the reported dismissal of former Islamabad accountability court judge Arshad Malik “proved the innocence” of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. “Mian sahib’s sentence ought to be declared null and void,” said Shahbaz of his brother’s seven-year sentence in the Al Azizia corruption reference. Taking to Twitter, the former Punjab chief minister thanked God for the decision, adding that it had been proven that a three-time elected prime minister was handed an unjust verdict. Shehbaz said that after the decision, Nawaz’s conviction should also be repealed.
