A chapter is closed
The crisis has been resolved. What remains is the withdrawal of the contempt case against Raja Pervaiz Ashraf which will take place when the Swiss authorities officially acknowledge the receipt of the letter. This is supposed to take place within the next four weeks. As far as President Zardari is concerned, the chapter of the NRO case has been closed.
That it took two years and a half to resolve the issue of the NRO would bring credit neither to the apex court nor the government. As a former judge and SCBA president put it, the issue was resolved because both the executive and the judiciary had softened their stance. The court knew it from day one that the PPP would never allow the trial of it co-chairman who enjoyed constitutional immunity as long as he held the office of the president. Despite the provision of immunity regarding the head of state in the constitution being amply clear, the Supreme Court continued to insist that this could not be taken for granted and anybody claiming immunity would have to seek it from the court. Why did the court insist on interpreting a provision that had no ambiguity? By agreeing to and praising the latest draft of the Swiss letter presented by Farook H Naek on Wednesday, the court has accepted the government’s stand on immunity by reversing its earlier position. That there is a change in the court’s attitude is a welcome sign. The initial signals came when the court observed in its July 25 order that President Zardari was also their president and that bridging the trust deficit between the executive and the judiciary was not an impossible task. The court had also rejected a perception that there was any standoff between the two pillars of the state and suggested to the government to find away to resolve the issue. This led the PPP to conclude that the court was willing to accommodate its reservations.
The way the PPP leadership has taken a U-turn on the Swiss letter has surprised its rank and file. Earlier Zardari, followed by other PPP leaders, had termed writing the letter as a trial of Benazir Bhutto’s grave. As the letter concedes immunity only for Zardari, all other accused are likely to be tried after the letter is delivered to the Swiss authorities. It would be difficult to explain to the PPP workers how the letter has stopped the presumed trial of the grave. Thirty months were wasted on an issue that had no relevance for the common man while it kept most people on tenterhooks. While the decision is welcome, one fails to understand why the change in thinking came so late. Had the decision come earlier the tenure and the political career of a prime minister would have been saved. Similarly, the perception of uncertainty about the future of the system would not have been created.
