ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Wednesday noted that the date of a summary of advice, issued from the Prime Minister’s Office to the president to promulgate the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2010, seemed to have been tampered with.
“Prima facie, it appears that the letter written by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to President Asif Ali Zardari to approve and sign the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010 was tampered with,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed while heading a three-member bench, consisting of Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, hearing identical petitions challenging the NAB ordinance. He said this after Attorney General Anwarul Haq submitted a reply and copies of the correspondence between the president and the prime minister on behalf of the federation. The petitioner, PML-N Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, told the court that the National Assembly speaker was not providing him the record of the prime minister’s speech in the National Assembly, in which he had expressed ignorance about the ordinance, despite of it already being promulgated.
The attorney general told the court that the record of the speech was being obtained.The chief justice said that if the chief executive of the country delivered a statement or speech in the National Assembly, why should it not be given weight. He said it was the duty of the court to protect the constitution, asking how could the president issue an ordinance without the advice of prime minister. In response to the court order, the petitioner submitted some record related to the ordinance in support of his argument that the ordinance was issued without consulting the prime minister. After examining the record, the court inquired from the petitioner that from where and how had he obtained the record that was considered secret. The petitioner said the record presented by him was that submitted by the attorney general in court.
