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NRO implementation case: Show cause notice issued to PM Ashraf

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a show cause notice to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for not obeying court orders in NRO implementation case and summoned the premier in personal capacity on August 27. According to details, a five-judge special bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, heard the case here on Wednesday. The short order of the apex court stated that Raja Pervez Ashraf replaced the former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani after the later was disqualified for his failure to implement court orders. The short order furthered that it was regrettable that court orders were flouted on purpose, adding that the government had failed to submit a report in this regard. During hearing of the case, the Attorney General of Pakistan, Irfan Qadir asked the court for review of its July 12 judgment. To this Justice Khosa said that if this was the government’s plan, then it was a delay tactic. The AGP appraised the court that in order to arrive at a settlement, the government needed more time, adding that he (the AGP) would try his best to straighten up the dithered state of affairs between the executive and the judiciary. The court however, issued a show cause notice to PM Ashraf in the backdrop of contempt of court and summoned him on August 27. The show cause notice was issued under the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003. While adjourning the hearing till August 27, Justice Khosa told the AGP to execute court orders otherwise; the court would go ahead with the proceedings, he added. Earlier on June 27, the SC bench ordered the new prime minister to write to the Swiss authorities without consultation from his legal team and submit a reply in the SC on July 12, but the government failed to act in accordance with court orders and could not submit a report. The hearing was adjourned till July 25 and then finally to August 8. President Zardari’s and the Swiss accounts The allegations against President Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts. The Swiss shelved the case in 2008 when Zardari became president and the government had been insisting that the president has full immunity.