ISLAMABAD: Top legal brains of the government have decided to go for the option of buying more time from the Supreme Court for the implementation of the NRO verdict when the matter comes up before the apex court on Monday (today), it is reliably learnt.
A flurry of activities continued on Sunday till late night as the legal wizards of the government looked into all the options available with them to avert the expected showdown between the two state pillars – the executive and the judiciary.
One of the key meetings took place at the PM Secretariat where Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, Law Secretary Masood Chishti and Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq with other senior officials finally decided that they would plead the court to give more time to submit the ‘Compliance Report’ pertaining to thousands of NRO beneficiaries’ cases.
However, the meeting decided that the government would stand firm in its stance that President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys blanket immunity under the Constitution and cases against him cannot be reinitiated in any court of law inside and outside the country. The government will also defend its position that only parliament can frame and amend the Constitution.
Talking to The Express Tribune Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said that the PM Secretariat has sent various lists containing thousands of names of NRO beneficiaries to the Ministry of Law and Justice last week. “The process of verification of cases is complicated and will take more time in telling the Supreme Court the detailed and comprehensive status of the cases,” he said.
He says that a copy of the summary regarding the Swiss cases had been handed over to his office and will be put up in Courtroom No 1 on Monday (today). The stance of the law ministry regarding reinitiating the Swiss cases is clear, he added.
Replying to a question regarding the expected collision between the two important pillars of states, he said: “Anything can happen tomorrow (Monday).”
Meanwhile, the law secretary informed the meeting that there is a backlog of thousands of cases and the Law and Justice Division of the Ministry would consult NAB Director General Operation Kausar Malik for more deliberation of the status of all NRO cases, the sources in the ministry said.
Law Minister Babar Awan told the legal team that the Law and Justice Division would study all the cases to know their present status and finally will put up the lists before the Supreme Court within a couple of weeks.
“Go to the court and put up the summary regarding Swiss cases and seek more time for the final ‘Compliance Report’ for other NRO cases,” the law minister was quoted by a senior official as telling the legal team.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2010.
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