Swiss letter: No middle way in NRO judgment, says Aitzaz

Says SC cannot give different decisions in similar cases of two PMs.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Peoples Party central leader Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday said that there could not be a middle way in the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

“Either the PPP government or the court has to move back from their stated position,” Aitzaz told reporters at the Supreme Court building.

The PPP leader said the Supreme Court could not give different decisions in similar case as the former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities. “If Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf does not write the Swiss letter, the court would have no option but to send him home,” Aitzaz said.

A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court had disqualified the former prime minister in the NRO implementation case and now a five-member bench of the apex court could not adopt a middle way in the same matter, Aitzaz said.

He noted that the court had given the premier 22 days for taking a decision but no such relaxation was shown when he pursued the case for the former premier.

The senator said he had to go to London to participate in an international conference in February, but the court asked him to return within two days, and now the relaxation given to the prime minister indicates the Supreme Court decision of disqualifying Yousaf Raza Gilani was a hasty one.

Aitzaz said that in his opinion the PPP government would not write letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening cases against President Zardari. He added that the court should also understand that as long as Asif Ali Zardai is the president of the country the letter could not be written to Swiss authorities. In the last 500 years no state has presented its head in foreign courts, he added.

He remarked whether Mian Shahbaz Sharif would write letter against Nawaz Sharif, who is not the president of the country. He said the court has authority to review its decision as the court could also make mistake because the judges are human beings.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2012.