Sorry my Lord; no letter to Swiss authorities

A day before the hearing of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case, the government has filed a plea in the Supreme Court, refusing to write a letter to the Swiss authorities against President Asif Ali Zardari.

However, the apex court rejected the application saying a civil miscellaneous application could not be filed against a court ruling. It, however, said only review petition could be filed in such cases.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir, who submitted the petition on behalf of the government, said that he will file a review petition with contentions similar to that contained in the rejected plea. His remarks were clearly indicating the mood of the government for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities.

The plea reads, “The prime minister cannot be asked by means of the July 12 order to implement an un-implementable direction given by the Supreme Court in the NRO case”. The court was also requested to recall its June 27 and July 12 rulings in which it asked the premier to clarify his stance on the NRO implementation case.

It is vital to mention here that a special bench of the apex court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa asked Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to submit a report about compliance with the NRO judgment by writing a letter to Swiss authorities against the graft cases of President Asif Ali Zardari.

The court, at the same time, warned that it could initiate any course of action under the Constitution if the government failed to comply with its rulings.

The application said, “There is no question whatsoever of revival of Pakistan’s status as a damaged party (writing of letter to the Swiss authorities) because the Supreme Court’s own jurisdiction is limited to the territories of Pakistan”.

It added, “In fact after the conclusion of Swiss investigations Pakistan has no role to play in these matters. There was no occasion for the seven-judge Supreme Court hearing a contempt case against the former prime minister to have called him thrice in the court. This is an utter disregard of the Constitution and the law”.

However, in its summary dismissal of the application, the court turned down the request.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=29571

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 25 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.