The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership on Tuesday finally engaged its top legal brain, former interior miniBarrister Aitzaz Ahsen, seeking his help to rescue Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who faces contempt of court for not implementing the Supreme Court order vis-à-vis the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday had issued a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Gilani in the NRO implementation case and directed him to appear in person before the court on January 19 (tomorrow).
The prime minister has been summoned for not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases pending there despite the lapse of two years. However, Aitzaz has throughout been saying that the government has to implement the court order and there is no harm in writing the letter as the president enjoys constitutional immunity under Article 248 of the constitution. He said the president also enjoyed sovereign diplomatic immunity and no case against him could be initiated, even in a foreign land.
Aitzaz is highly respected among the legal fraternity for his mastery in legal matters, with a long track record of political struggle against tyranny and dictatorship throughout his career as a lawyer and as a politician.
According to an official statement, he called on Prime Minister Gilani and discussed with him the apex court’s contempt notice. During the meeting, it was agreed that Aitzaz would appear in the Supreme Court along with the prime minister as his counsel on January 19.
He had made history by defended two prime ministers in the court of law in different cases. Having previously fought cases in defence of slain former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto in the mid-90s, he had also taken up a case in defence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2001.
He also successfully represented Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s case in the Supreme Court (PLD 2007 SC 578). Aitzaz and his associates had fought a legal battle against a 16-member team of government-hired lawyers representing the federation.
He also led the lawyers movement as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to get democracy and the pre-emergency judiciary in Pakistan restored with peaceful resistance.
However, he caught the ire of Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari for defending the chief justice but he remained steadfast in his resolve to lead the movement, which finally succeeded. After the restoration of the judiciary, he announced that he would not appear in front of any bench headed by the chief justice.
Now finding itself in a difficult situation, the government reviewed its strategy and contacted him to represent the prime minister and he agreed to it as the seven-member bench hearing the case is not headed by the chief justice. This will be the first case of the present government that he has taken up since it came to power.
He was brought back to the top echelons of the party when he was given unprecedented respect on December 27, being asked by the president – against party traditions – to address the PPP public meeting at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh after him.
PM will have Aitzaz in his corner in SC
