SC cannot adopt a middle way in NRO Case: Aitzaz

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan has said if the government refuses to write letter to the Swiss authorities, the Supreme Court will give a similar ruling against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf as it did with Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Speaking to the journalists on Monday in the Parliament House, Aitzaz Ahsan said if the present prime minister was disqualified, he would be replaced with the new one and the process would continue till the scheduled general elections in March 2013.
Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said a seven-member bench of the apex court disqualified a prime minister in NRO case and now the five-member bench of the Supreme Court cannot adopt a middle way for the same matter.
Aitzaz Ahsan noted the court gave the present premier a relaxation of 22 days for taking a decision but the Supreme Court did not display such courtesy when he pursued the case for former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Senator Ahsan said he had to go to London for participation in an international conference this February, the court asked him to return within two days, and now the relaxation rendered to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf showed the Supreme Court’s decision of disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani was a hasty one.
Answering a question, he said he was the lawyer of Yousaf Raza Gilani in the NRO Case and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf did not ask for his services, however, he accepts that he failed to pursue Yousaf Raza Gilani’s case successfully.
The Supreme Court should review its decision in NRO Case as during the last 500 years, since the concept of modern state emerged, there is no one single example where a state presented its own head in front of the court of another state.
He said he attaches importance to the independence of judiciary but he views the ruling of judiciary in accordance with the international laws.
In reply to a question, Aitzaz Ahsan said President Asif Ali Zardari has got immunity not as a person but as a head of state, and the courts must secure this office.
To another query, he said judges of the Supreme Court have been restored and there is no need of the approval of their reinstatement from the Parliament.

The judges of the Supreme Court cannot be sacked through executive order, he added.
He said the statement of the Indian chief justice in which he says that the courts should not interfere in the affairs of the state, is valid.
Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said, answering another question, that the lawyers’ movement was fruitful as it brought an end to the reign of the dictator, Pervez Musharraf.