News
Friday, August 17, 2012
Give commitment on letter or face the music, SC tells Raja* Court says ‘if prime minister will say two positive words on August 27, they will facilitate him, otherwise the law will take its own course’
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday, showing a goodwill gesture, observed that if Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf would make a positive commitment on August 27 regarding writing a letter to the Swiss authorities then the court would facilitate him otherwise law would take its own course.
A five-member bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, hearing a review petition against June 27 and July 12 orders of the court, said, “If the prime minister would say two positive words on August 27 then they would facilitate him, otherwise the law would take its own course.” He said no one should feel insulted to appearing before the court.
Justice Khosa said, “Yesterday we gave the observation that was purely on the basis of Para 178 of the NRO judgement.” The court directed the federation to take immediate steps for revival of the cases in Switzerland, adding that the para 178 is not against President Asif Zardari. He said further it was exaggerated that the court wanted more than what was written in the NRO judgement.
Law Minister Farooq H Naek and the attorney general (AG) appeared before the court to explain that the government had a genuine desire to resolve the issue regarding a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening cases against the NRO beneficiaries, including the president.
Attorney General Irfan Qadir informed the court that on August 15 he and the law minister had a meeting with the PM on the implementation of NRO judgement. He said further it was decided to seek some time from the court to make genuine efforts for the meaningful progress. Naek said the meeting was held for ‘further discussion’.
Justice Khosa said they would not give more time for discussion as the government had been holding meetings for the last three years, but to no avail.
The AG said that on August 15 it was 27th day of Ramazan and most of the government allies were busy praying. He said that they needed to take the allies into confidence.
The law minister told the court that the decision regarding the letter was not to be taken by one person. He said his appearance before the court showed that the government was sincere in resolving the issue. He said that they did not want a clash between the institutions.
Naek said, “We don’t want to drag or use delaying tactics in this case. I assure the court that the matter will be resolved soon.”
On the request of the law minister and the AG the court adjourned the case for an indefinite period.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk