Message for the premier: AGP receives court order for PM Gilani

Premier asked to write Swiss letter by March 21.

ISLAMABAD:

An unpleasant reminder landed in the office of Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP), Maulvi Anwarul Haq on Saturday – a direction from the Supreme Court to the prime minister to write a letter to Swiss authorities seeking the reopening of graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Earlier, on March 8, a seven-member bench of the apex court had directed that the order be delivered to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani via the AGP. The written order of the court stated that, despite the premier’s appearance in court in response to a contempt of court notice, he was yet to commit to implementing the court’s judgment over the National Reconcilation Ordinance (NRO).

“We will not comment upon the defence of the prime minister as the same will be examined in the contempt proceedings still pending adjudication,” read the order of the trial bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, hearing the contempt of court case against the premier.

The SC says that the proceedings related to disobedience of earlier court orders and their pendency do not affect the process already undertaken for implementing the verdict and writing the letter.

Thus, regardless of any advice tendered earlier, or in the future, the prime minister, being chief executive of the federation, shall implement the directions given in the NRO judgment.

On March 21, the prime minister will have to submit a report to the court stating that the order has been complied with and that he has directed relevant authorities to write a letter to the Swiss authorities.

The court order also revealed that Shaiq Usmani, counsel for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, has sought one month’s time to complete the entire process of inquiry into pending cases of NRO beneficiaries – namely Adnan A Khawaja and Ahmad Riaz Sheikh, who was appointed an Additional DG of the Federal Investigation Agency in violation of SC orders.

The court order said that the court had pointed out certain observations made in NAB’s report stating that the Musharraf government had given consent to then attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum for writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to close the corruption cases (as a result of the NRO deal). Usmani, however, attempted to dismiss this argument by saying that this information had been included unintentionally in the report.

The court order also stated that Dr Basit’s request was turned down in which he asked the court to refrain from monitoring his clients’ (Khawaja and Sheikh) cases which were pending before NAB.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2012.