Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, resuming today the hearing of the NRO implementation case, will take stock of the matter regarding the letter sent to Swiss authorities against the beneficiaries of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) including President Asif Ali Zardari.
Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek will produce a report before a five-member SC’s bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.
It is worth mentioning here that another five-strong bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, approving on October 10 the draft of the letter to be sent to Swiss authorities, directed to present a report regarding the dispatch of the letter and its receipt by Swiss officials within four weeks.
Earlier on September 18, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who was likely to face the contempt of court proceedings, apprised the court that the government is raring to write a letter to Swiss government to discard the earlier letter by former Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Qayyum, provided its reservations regarding the immunity of the President Zardari are kept in view.
It is pertinent to note here that the government produced to the court three different drafts of the proposed letter on September 25 and 26 and then on October 5; however, it failed to satisfy the court over the contents of the letter.
The court served the government a final deadline of October 10 to produce the letter’s draft in accordance with para-178 of the NRO verdict. The court approved the draft produced on October 10.
According to the request submitted by the government on November 8, the letter was dispatched to the Swiss officials through diplomatic channel on November 5; however, its receipt is yet awaited. –SAMAA
