The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted as evidence the documentary record presented by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi to defend Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the contempt of court case.
A seven-member special bench of Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed, also directed Sethi to appear before it today (Thursday) to get herself cross examined.
Sethi also got her statement recorded on oath before the court. At the onset of hearing, the court expressed dismay over the prime minister’s defence for not appropriately submitting the record of summaries sent to the premier, advising him not to write a letter to Swiss authorities for reopening corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari in compliance with the court’s December 16, 2009 and subsequent orders in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), as the president, being head of the state, enjoyed absolute constitutional immunity.
The bench suspended the proceedings for half-an-hour directing the submission and production of summaries’ record properly.
Later, when the bench resumed the proceedings, PM counsel Aitzaz Ahsen told the bench that Sethi, being a defence witness, had submitted the record and wanted to produce the summaries’ and other relevant record. The court then allowed her and she presented the record. After examining the record, the court again got the record verified by Sethi.
The court also accepted the record as evidence. The record contained May 21 and September 21, 2010 summaries, signed by then law secretary Aqil Mirza and then law minister Babar Awan respectively, as well as opinion of former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan sent to the PM by the Law Ministry.
Aitzaz asked the court to treat the May 21, 2010 summary as defence’s evidence number one and the correspondence of Saifur Rehman led Ehtesab Bureau with the Swiss authorities as evidence number two. Aitzaz also presented as evidence the letter of then attorney general Chaudhry Farooq written to the Swiss authorities in 1999.
Aitzaz presented as defence evidence the record pertaining to correspondence of then chairman of Ehtesab Bureau Saifur Rehman and attorney general Chaudhry Farooq with the Swiss authorities in 1997 to 1999. When Sethi told the court on oath that she would speak truth before the court, Aitzaz asked some questions from her, to which she said she joined the civil service on April 5, 1980. She said she also served as principal secretary to the prime minister as well as the health secretary.
To Aitzaz’s query, she said she served as principal secretary to the prime minister from December 15, 2009 to January 17, 2011. “Did you record the PM’s directions correctly or not?”
To this, the court objected, saying it was a cross examination. “Let me ask the questions, as the court is performing the function of prosecution,” Aitzaz pleaded.
Sethi stated that para 20 and 21 of the summaries were the PM’s directives. To a query asked by Aitzaz, Sethi said in government affairs, if the law secretary did not act upon the PM’s directives, the summary was again forwarded to the PM. She said apart from the administrative matters, the prime minister did various jobs under the rules of business. She said the prime minister had a lot of responsibilities, which could not be stated in words. She said he remained in touch with parliament and participated in majority of its sittings. Sethi said the prime minister also met parliamentarians, allied parties, diplomats and visiting dignitaries, besides interacting with the media.
She said, being the principal secretary, she never observed the PM in anger or indulged in altercation with any one. She said the premier never uttered even a single word against the judiciary.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said all these things were routine matters and everyone knew about them.
Aitzaz said any matter about the prime minister or ministers’ character could be known by their near ones. He said since Sethi had been working with him, she knew better about him. Aitzaz said the best witness against any accused was one who worked with him.
After hearing various questions on several aspects of the PM’s political and parliamentary role, the court asked Aitzaz whether he wanted to award a “character certificate” to the PM. During the hearing, when Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq raised some objections over the defence, the court asked him that his objections would be examined later.
The court adjourned proceedings until today (Thursday).
Talking to reporters, Aitzaz said he wanted to prove that his client had not committed any contempt of court in any manner. He said the statement of Nargis Sethi recorded on Wednesday would be reviewed today (Thursday).
He said Sethi had proved that the PM had participated uninvited in the dinner hosted in honour of outgoing Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday at the Supreme Court, just to make the relations between the judiciary and the executive better.
