The Supreme Court on Wednesday maintained that civil and criminal proceedings against a head of state or a diplomat could not be initiated only when he is on a tour abroad. Aitzaz Ahsan was advancing his arguments before a seven-member special bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk in a contempt case against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The bench said if the head of the state needed immunity, he should approach the court. According to Aitzaz, however, under the Vienna Convention, the presidents throughout the world enjoy immunity and the courts accept it globally.
Aitzaz cited several international cases that pertain to immunity to substantiate his argument. He said that under international as well as national laws, the president enjoyed full immunity. He contended that civil and criminal proceedings against the head of the state could not be initiated unless he is the president of the country.
According to him, the co-accused of President Asif Ali Zardari in Swiss graft cases have been acquitted and as long as he is the president of the country, dispatch of a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against him should be deferred.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, a member of the bench remarked, that the one who enjoyed immunity, should approach the court. "Here in this country a man [PM] is not in a mood to write a letter to the Swiss authorities because he thinks that the president enjoys immunity...this is the only reason based on which the apex court orders are not being implemented. There is no mention of presidential immunity in the Vienna Convention," he remarked.
Justice Nasirul Mulk asked the premier's lawyer: What will happen to Zardari in case he writes of a letter to the Swiss authorities? The PM was required to write a letter to the Swiss authorities and rest of the things would be handled by Zardari himself, he added.
Aitzaz said that in the apex court's verdict on NRO, it had been asked to reopen the Swiss graft case against President Zardari. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked that the apex court in its verdict on NRO had in fact directed to withdraw the letter, written by the then AGP, Malik Qayyum to close the case pending in Swiss courts. "Why would we ask for Zardari's trial?", he questioned.
According to Aitzaz, all the verdicts of the apex court will be implemented but no letter will be written to the Swiss authorities so long he is the president of Pakistan.
He urged the court to delay the case for the time being Justice Nasirul Mulk have reminded Aitzaz about inordinate delay in the implementation of a verdict given by the 17-member larger bench of the Supreme Court.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the apex court did not want to send its president or prime minister behind the bars. "We don't want this at all because both [president, PM] are ours. The only thing we want is the implementation of apex court's verdicts," he maintained.
Advancing his arguments on Article 10(a) of the Constitution, Aitzaz once again insisted that the said bench had served contempt of court notices on his client, it could not hear the case.
The hearing was adjourned till Thursday with directives to Aitzaz to complete his arguments by today [Thursday].
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