‘Review first, implementation later’

The government has asked the SC to decide the review petition against the court’s verdict against the NRO.

ISLAMABAD: In an unexpected move, the government has asked the Supreme Court to decide the review petition against the court’s December 2009 verdict against the National Reconciliation Ordinance before insisting on implementation of its judgment.

A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk will continue hearing today (Monday) a suo motu case regarding the non-implementation of its judgement declaring the NRO illegal. The court has long been pushing the government to reopen all the corruption cases closed under the ordinance, including those against President Asif Zardari. However, the government has been adamant in not doing so.

At the last hearing, the court  to either send a fresh summary regarding the Swiss cases to the prime minister or to send law secretary Masood Chishti to explain to the court why the court’s directive wasn’t followed.

But the government’s latest move may alter matters somewhat. “In a fresh plea, we’ve asked for implementation of the NRO ruling to be delayed until the government’s review petition is decided,” Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said on Sunday. “A four-page application was clubbed with the NRO review petition on Saturday evening and I’ve requested that the chief justice take up the federation’s review petition as soon as possible,” said Haq.

Federal law secretary Masood Chishti said the federation wanted the review petition to be decided before it moved on to other pending matters. “We will defend our stance on the NRO once the chief justice takes up the case,” Chisti pledged.

ut advocate Ikram Chaudhry is not persuaded by the ‘logical ordering’ of the legal battles. “The federation is dillydallying in implementing the NRO judgement because it has no option left now other than to follow the court’s order in letter and spirit.” Ikram Chaudhry sees the government’s latest move as another attempt to deliberately create hurdles in the process of accountability.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the law ministry confided to The Express Tribune that the summary regarding the issue of reopening of Swiss cases against Zardari has been completed. “The summary will be sent to the prime minister this week; it’s almost certain that Zardari’s cases cannot be reopened,” he said.

The official also said the president and prime minister would discuss the appointment of a new chairman for the National Accountability Bureau on Monday and the appointment would follow in “two or three days”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2010.