Law Minister Farooq H Naik will appear before the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court today (Tuesday) with the draft of the Swiss letter and with a willingness to amend the draft as and if needed, it has been learnt.
“The draft of the letter, created by law minister in consultation with senior lawyer and PML-Q leader Wasim Sajjad and Attorney General Irfan Qadir, will not be up to the expectations of the court,” a government source informed Pakistan Today.
The source said under the new strategy, the law minister would use delaying tactics vis-à-vis the Swiss letter while keeping the court engaged.
“The government expects that the court would disagree with the draft and it would direct the law minister to redraft the letter per the directions of the court in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case. In such a case, the law minister would seek adjournment of around four weeks to hold detailed talks and seek permission from the president, who has left for New York to attend UNGA session,” said the source. The five-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal, Justice Ejaz Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Athar Saeed, would hear arguments of the law minister today (Tuesday).
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira also confirmed the news and said the government had prepared a draft of the letter to be written to Swiss authorities and the same would be presented in court by the law minister. However, he insisted that there was no change in the government’s stance over the Swiss letter.
“Neither the government has taken a U-turn over the letter to Swiss authorities nor has it changed its stance in this regard … the government has prepared a draft while keeping in view a middle way on the direction of the court. The reservations of the federation have also been kept in view in the draft,” the minister said, adding that the court, not the government, had called for adopting a middle way to resolve the matter. Kaira hinted at the possibility of a change in the contents of the letter, saying the contents might be changed if the apex court expressed its reservations over the draft proposed by the Law Ministry. He said the letter would help withdraw the previous letter that was written to the Swiss authorities by former AG Malik Qayyum.
In the previous hearing on September 18, the Supreme Court of Pakistan exempted Prime Minster Raja Pervez Ashraf from appearing before the court in the NRO implementation case.
Govt looks to buy more time with Swiss letter draft
