Zardari doesn’t need to move court for immunity: Aitzaz

Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday said President Asif Ali Zardari enjoyed complete immunity in criminal cases and he did not need to approach the court for it.
“The immunity under the constitution is not for the person but for the constitutional office that the president is holding so he has immunity until he is in the office of the president,” Aitzaz told reporters at the Lahore High Court (LHC).
He said Article 248 of the constitution could be objectionable. However, parliament alone had the authority to change it through constitutional amendment. He said the president enjoyed immunity in the Swiss courts as well, adding that the government had not committed any contempt of court by not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities.
Reacting to Justice (r) Khalilur Rehman Ramday’s interview with a private TV channel against the presidential immunity, Aitzaz said it would be better for Ramday to keep mum on the issue as a Pandora’s Box could be opened against him regarding what he did as a judge of the LHC. “If I open my mouth against Ramday, I may expose his past which is not very likeable,” Aitzaz said.
“It is surprising that Justice Ramday has started politics before completion of his two years period after retirement as SC judge,” Aitzaz said, hitting at the political bias of the retired judge against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Aitzaz said the building of the Lahore High Court was witness to Ramday’s one-sided judgements.
“It is odd on the part of the ex-judge that he is trying to predict what arguments I will be giving in the SC in defence of the immunity to president,” he said.
Talking about his decision to defend the prime minister and the president before the Supreme Court, he said it was everybody’s constitutional right to hire a counsel of his choice.
Aitzaz said before agreeing to defend the prime minister, he had laid down some conditions including not staging a rally of party workers to the SC and avoiding giving statements against the SC or its verdicts to the media.
About member of the lawyers community who were opposing his decision of appearing in the court as the prime minister’s lawyer, Aitzaz said the lawyers did not yet know the logic of his decision and once the crisis facing the country was averted, all lawyers would approve of his decision.