Supreme Court serves contempt of court notice to PM Gilani

 Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in NRO implementation case on Monday.

The seven-member bench of Apex court headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk has directed Prime Minister to appear in-person before the court on January 19.

Moreover, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Fasih Bukhari apologized unconditionally to the court and informed the court that NAB has opened the all cases which were closed under NRO.

He prayed for the excluding the fifth option from the decision given by the court on Jan 09, in which court has observed that court would take action against NAB chairman.

However, the court has directed to NAB chairman to submit the detailed report regarding the implementation of court orders.

Earlier, the Attorney-General Maulvi Anwarul Haq told the Supreme Court that he did not get any instructions from the government in response to the six options put forward by the apex court in the NRO implementation case.

The attorney-general said that he had informed all concerned authorities about the court’s directives but did not get any response from them.

Justice Mulk directed the AG to proceed with his arguments over the six scenarios put forward by the apex court.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa of the SC bench assailed the attorney-general over presenting the case without getting a response from the government.

“You should not have arrived without instructions from the respondents when it was clearly directed in the last hearing,” he said.
Justice Khosa observed that the court’s orders were not being taken seriously.

The Bench gave 15 minutes time to attorney-general to get directives from the government. After that the contempt notice was issued against the prime minister when the attorney-general failed to get government’s response.

Earlier, the court had adjourned the hearing after it was informed that the attorney-general was at the Islamabad High Court building for a hearing of the commission probing the memo scandal.

The Supreme Court wants the government to write to Swiss authorities demanding that they re-open old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, which the government has so far refused to do so.

Zardari and the government led by his Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) say he has immunity from prosecution as long as he remains in office.

The president is also under pressure from an investigation into who was behind efforts to solicit American help to prevent a coup apparently feared in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death and to clip the power of the army.

After the hearing Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio talking to media outside the court said that the government would consult lawyers with respect to the court’s notice and that whatever would be done would be done in accordance with the law and constitution.

“This is not a small, usual thing,” Chandio told, adding that “this is a Supreme Court order on which we will consult our committee of experts. We will take the necessary steps in light of the constitution and the law,” he added. SANA