Letter to Swiss authorities: Govt files review petition against SC order to PM

Asks court to set aside its order as it was not implementable.

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Irfan Qadir on Tuesday filed a review petition against the Supreme Court order passed on July 12, which ordered Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to write letter to Swiss authorities regarding the reopening of cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The order was passed by five-judge bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case.

Through its review petition, the federal government has asked the court to set aside its order as it was not implementable.

According to the review petition, the prime minister had not received any advice to write the letter, adding that he was not bound to write the letter.

The petition further stated that the Supreme Court’s June 27 and July 12 orders were unlawful and if the letter was written, it would violate Article 248 (2) of the Constitution as a result.

The petition maintained that the main judgment in the NRO case was recorded by a 17-member bench and it could not be implemented by a seven-member bench.

It also stated that the issue of implementation of para 178 [writing a letter to Swiss authorities] no longer arose as the court had already punished one prime minister for not obeying the court order.