Swiss letter draft submitted in SC

Farooq H Naek, the federal minister of law, on Tuesday submitted a draft of the Swiss letter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan along with an authorization letter from the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf following which the bench completed deliberations upon the draft and adjourned the hearing till Wednesday.
Opening the proceedings, a five-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa directed the law minister to first produce the authority letter from the Prime Minister prior to the draft of the letter, a private TV channel reported.
Raising objections on the content of the draft, the bench pointed out that there is a difference between the reference numbers of the letter written by former Attorney General Malik Qayyum and the draft of the letter prepared by the government. The letter when finalised will be sent to the Swiss authorities for reopening of graft cases against the President Asif Ali Zardari.
Justice Khosa remarked that the draft should state the complete reference number. Replying to this, Naek said the other number might be added if the court wants so.
On receiving the letter’s draft, the court took a 15-minute break and retired into their chamber to deliberate upon contents of the letter. The contents of the letters were assessed in the light of para-178 of the court’s ruling in NRO case.
The federal minister Naek was also called in to join judges for consultation.
After the delierabrations, the bench re-assembled and in its short-order adjourned the hearing.
During the last hearing, the Prime Minister Ashraf voiced the government’s willingness to write a letter to Swiss authorities as directed by the court.
Praying to the court to grant him exemption from personal appearances in the court, the prime minister said he would authorize Naek to implement court orders in this regard.
Receiving his assurances, the court accepted his plea and directed him to authorize the law minister in writing.