Meesha Shafi-Ali Zafar case: SC to decide when, how witness statements will be recorded

ISLAMABAD: Meesha Shafi’s petition in reference to the defamation case by Ali Zafar was heard by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday.

The petition filed by Shafi’s counsel argued that cross-examining the witnesses that appear before the court, was a basic right which the apex court should permit, and in so doing considered the verdict by Lahore High Court (LHC) annulled.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan hearing the case on Thursday responded to Shafi’s lawyer of wanting to record statements of witnesses and cross-questioning them simultaneously, saying the court would decide when statements of the witnesses would be recorded.

He further stated that in his 30 years of being associated in law, there was no precedence of the witness statement getting recorded before the cross-questioning.

Responding to the judge, Shafi’s layer stated that numerous views from court decisions mentioning this could be provided by her to which Justice Ahsan stated that court decisions could be wrong as they are not ‘heavenly scriptures’, after which the hearing was adjourned for next week.