LHC dismisses judge Arshad Malik: Shehbaz says decision proves Nawaz's innocence

LAHORE: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif hailed the Lahore High Court's decision to dismiss judge Arshad Malik, saying that it proved his brother, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was innocent. 

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. 

The PML-N president's tweet came a few minutes after news broke that the LHC's administration committee had dismissed judge Arshad Malik from service. 

Read more: Lahore High Court dismisses judge Arshad Malik

Shehbaz said that after the decision, Nawaz's conviction should also be repealed. 

The Lahore High Court's administration committee's decision is actually evidence of Mohammad Nawaz Sharif's innocence, he said.  

"I would appeal to party workers and the masses to offer prayers in gratitude," he wrote. 

Judge Arshad Malik video controversy

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz had alleged last year that the judge had contacted Nasir Butt, a PML-N worker and told him that he was feeling guilty and having nightmares ever since he announced the verdict that led to Nawaz's imprisonment.

The judge was "blackmailed" into handing down the sentence against Nawaz Sharif after some people threatened that they would release a private video of his, she had alleged.

Judge Malik, after becoming embroiled in the so-called judge video scandal, had penned a letter to the IHC in July wherein he had refuted Maryam’s claims and revealed other information related to the controversy.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, Malik had denied the contents of the video — which purportedly showed him admitting to a lack of evidence against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif — and termed them edited, fabricated, and aimed to defame him.

Maryam had claimed that the judge was under immense pressure to send the former prime minister to jail, and that he had contemplated committing suicide several times since. She said the judge did not write the verdict but "was made to write" the prison sentence for Nawaz Sharif.

Responding to the allegations, the accountability court judge had called the video presented by the PML-N as fake and fallacious. He had demanded legal action against those involved in producing the videotape.