NRO Review Case Hearing Underway

ISLAMABAD, News Trends: The government Wednesday filed a review petition against rejection of a government plea by the Supreme Court on October 11, 2010.

A 17-member larger bench of the Supreme Court hearing NRO implementation and review petitions as Senator Latif Khosa representing the government in place of Barrister Kamal Azfar in the case.

Khosa had resigned from the post of Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Information Technology yesterday.

Advocate-on-Record Raja Abdul Ghafoor filed the government appeal against the court’s decision over the government request for more time in hearing.

The court yesterday rejected the petition because of non-payment of the court fees, which was resubmitted today.

Stringent security measures have been taken in Supreme Courrt as no person being allowed entry without security passes.

The court will also hear the NRO implementation case today.

NRO case: SC rejects Govts plea for more time, change of counsel

The Supreme Court has rejected the government’s plea to change its lawyer and more time in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, Dunya News reported on Monday.
A three-member bench of the apex court was hearing a government plea for change of counsel in the case.
The government, however, decided to file a review petition against the Superior Courts rejection of change of counsel in the case, sources revealed.
The apex court further ordered the government to withdraw the notification of Barrister Kamal Azfar’s appointment as Adviser to the Prime Minister. During the hearing, the notification of Azfar’s appointment as Adviser was produced in the court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also directed that Azfar’s appointment notification should be withdrawn.
On Saturday, the governments counsel Raja Abdul Ghafoor, advocate-on-record, filed an application in the SC seeking more time in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) review petition to engage another counsel in place of Barrister Kamal Azfar, who was appointed the Adviser to the Prime Minister.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that it is not good to humiliate the superior court to such an extent, adding that the government seemed to be joking with the SC.
During hearing the petitioner Advocate Salman Akram Raja requested to the court to cancel the notification regarding the appointment of Kamal Azfars as advisor to the PM, pleading that he was supposed to assist the court in the NRO case.
The CJ observed that the government, if serious, should retract Azfars appointment notification so to enable him to represent the former in NRO review petition. Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday maintained that the government is employing delaying tactics to get the hearing postponed.
First the government related the NRO implementation case with review petition and now it is not letting the court to hear even the review plea, the CJP lamented. Hearing of all the important cases including NRO implementation, its review plea and others will be resumed on Oct 13, the CJ said.
The court rejected the government request and ordered Barrister Kamal Azfar to appear before the court on behalf of the government in the hearing of the case on October 13th.
This was the third time that the government had sought more time to appoint another counsel on behalf of the federation.At the last hearing on September 27, the court had accepted the governments request for putting off the hearing on implementation of its judgment on the NRO and fixed the review petition for October 13.

Govt moves show its weakness: Justice (r) Wajihuddin
Justice (r) Wajihuddin, while talking to Dunya News, said that the governments moves are aimed at getting the case postponed.
He said that the defendants case is weak and that was why they are resorting to such delaying tactics. He said that the government is left with no option then to yield to SC orders.

SHC upholds decision in treason case against Musharraf

Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani said that if Ayyub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq didnt commit any crime, then how Musharraf can be an offender. The SHC CJ said this while hearing a petition filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider against former president Pervez Musharraf seeking action against him for disfiguring the constitution and committing high treason.
While upholding the decision on the petition, the court has demanded one page written arguments from lawyers.
In his remarks, the CJ said that there was no method given to run a case under Article 6. He said that it is true the Supreme Court has declared Musharraf an offender but the SC didnt order to take any action against him. The petitions maintained that there was no case filed under Article 6 in the Supreme Court but it was in the High Court, so it should be ordered. He further said that if Musharraf was left, then any other dictator may come to surface. Barrister Kamal Azfar represented Sharifuddin Pirzada and Rizwan Siddiqi, Malik Qayyum while Deputy Attorney General Umar Hayat Sindhu also apposed action against Musharraf under Article 6.

Federation files reply in NRO verdict case

ISLAMABAD: The federal government filed a comprehensive reply in the Supreme Court (SC) in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) verdict review case today, Geo News reported Monday.

The federation said in its reply that the government cannot take action now against the beneficiaries of the NRO, as it has ceased to entail any benefit whatsoever and hence, this chapter is closed.

Any attempt to contact Swiss official to restore Swiss cases would go in vain, it was said.

The Federation’s counsel Barrister Kamal Azfar submitted the exhaustive reply during today’s proceedings of case against NRO verdict.

He said the verdict apex court delivered in the NRO case, is meant for beyond the national frontiers, adding the ruling given by Britain’s House of Lords, which was made a basis for the verdict (NRO one), was annulled by the same house, later on.

The reply also said the conception of sentence in absentia does not exist in the national criminal laws and this runs counter to Article-10 as well.

Kamal Azfar said in the reply the NRO was not a deal reached between two parties, adding any attempt to approach the Swiss officials in Geneva for cases’ reopening would be futile, as the Swiss Prosecutor General said, ‘No case can be restored now.

Government of Pakistan does not need any assistance in these illegal lawsuits of 1997, it was asserted.

Kamal wrote in the reply, ‘A man cannot be punished twice against the a single offence.’

Supreme Court Hearing NRO Petitions

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan News : The full bench of Supreme Court has resumed hearing petitions against the National Reconciliation Ordinance here on Tuesday.

An Attorney for the federal government – Barrister Kamal Azfar – will clarify his statement in court on Monday, in which he claimed before the bench that the US CIA and General Headquarters pose a threat to the government.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – directed the federal government to file a written statement on the concern expressed by the lawyer.

According to reports the federal government will file its amended statement in the court today.

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Supreme Court Hearing NRO Petitions was first posted on December 15, 2009 at 11:28 am.