Full text of Supreme Court order in Swiss letter case

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

(Original Jurisdiction)

 

PRESENT:

Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa

Mr. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan

Mr. Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry

Mr. Justice Gulzar Ahmed

Mr. Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed

 

 

Criminal Original Petition No. 74 of 2012

In

Suo Motu Case No. 04 of 2010

(Contempt proceedings against Raja Pervez Ashraf, Prime Minister of Pakistan / Chief Executive of the Federation, in pursuance of this Court’s order dated 08.08.2012)

For the Respondent:                Mr. Farooq H. Naek,

Federal Minister for Law and Justice

Mr. Irfan Qadir,

Attorney-General for Pakistan     with Mr. Dil Muhammad Khan Alizai, Deputy Attorney-General for Pakistan


Date of hearing:                       10.10.2012

ORDER

 

 

Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, J.:    As directed by this Court on 18.09.2012 and as instructed and authorized by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in that respect on the said date Mr. Farooq H. Naek, Federal Minister for Law and Justice, had produced before us on 25.09.2012 the required authorization mentioned in the order dated 18.09.2012 and a draft of the communication to be addressed and dispatched by the Government of Pakistan to the Attorney-General, Geneva, Switzerland in compliance of the direction contained in paragraph No. 178 of the judgment handed by this Court in the case of Dr. Mubashir Hassan v. Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2010 SC 265). We had perused the draft communication on that day and had required Mr. Naek to improve the same so as to meet the requirements of paragraph No. 178 of the above mentioned judgment and the hearing of the matter was adjourned at his request to 26.09.2012. He had then produced an altered draft of the communication on 26.09.2012 and after perusal and consideration of the same we had found the same to be still deficient upon which he had sought time till 05.10.2012 to improve the draft further so as to meet the requisite requirements. Some aspects of the draft produced by Mr. Naek on 05.10.2012 also needed to be attended to and, thus, the matter was adjourned at his request till today. Mr. Naek has produced an amended draft before us today which is reproduced below:

Attorney General                                 Islamabad     October 2012

Geneva,

Switzerland

Re:       PP/11105/1997 and CP 289/97.

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to the letter dated 22^nd May 2008 addressed by Malik Mohammad Qayyum, the then Attorney General of Pakistan to Mr. Daniel Zappelli, Attorney General, Geneva, Switzerland.

In view of the directions given by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Paragraph 178 (copy attached as Annex-I) of its Judgment dated 16^th December 2009 in the case of Dr. Mobashir Hasan, reported as PLD 2010 SC 265, the aforesaid letter is hereby withdrawn and may be treated as never written and therefore revival of requests, status and claims, is sought.

This is without prejudice to the legal rights and defences of the Presidents/Heads of State which may be available under the law, constitution and international law.

Yours sincerely

Justice (R) Yasmin Abbasey

Secretary

We find that the proposed communication conforms to the requirements of paragraph No. 178 of the judgment of this Court rendered in the case of Dr. Mubashir Hassan and it also addresses the relevant concerns of the Government of Pakistan voiced before this Court by the Prime Minister on 18.09.2012.

2.       Mr. Naek has informed us that the relevant communication shall be dispatched to Switzerland through the Foreign Office and the same shall be delivered to the Attorney-General, Geneva, Switzerland by the Ambassador of Pakistan in Switzerland or his representative and the process is likely to take about four weeks. Let the needful be done by the Government of Pakistan within a period of four weeks from today and proof of actual receipt of the said communication by the Attorney-General, Geneva, Switzerland be produced before the Court on the next date of hearing. In the meanwhile Mr. Naek shall place on the record of this case a copy of the relevant summary for the Prime Minister, a copy of the Prime Minister’s order regarding authorization, a copy of the authorization and a copy of the actual letter/communication (with its diary number, date and signatures) dispatched to Switzerland.

3.       Adjourned to 14.11.2012.

Judge

Judge                             Judge

Judge                             Judge

Islamabad

10.10.2012

Arif