The Supreme Court Tuesday accepted the plea of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's counsel to submit documents in contempt of court hearing and also allowed Cabinet/Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi to appear as a witness in the case. Ahsan apprised seven-member bench led by Justice Nasirul Mulk that his client never intended to act in contempt of court.
Earlier, Ahsan filed a miscellaneous application in the apex court, arguing that the PM acted upon officials' advice that graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari could not be reopened in Switzerland. He sought to bring in three officials as witnesses - including Cabinet/Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi, former law minister Babar Awan and Law Secretary Muhammad Masood Chishti. He sought court's permission to present two official summaries that subsequently led to contempt of court case against the premier.
Ahsan said his client was bound to act on the advice of officials in relation to graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, adding that his client should be given a chance to defend his actions. It may be mentioned that the by the then federal law minister and Secretary Law to the Prime Minister's office sent to prime minister summaries, advising him "not to write the letter to prosecutors in Switzerland against President Asif Ali Zardari".
According to Aitzaz, under Article-187 of the Constitution of Pakistan the Supreme Court is authorised to provide complete justice wherein Order 33 of the SC Rules empower the court to summon evidence in a case. Justice Mulk asked the premier's counsel: "You were directed to file documents for your defence. Do you want to rely on these two summaries mentioned in your application?"
In his response, Aitzaz said that he would deliver arguments on the charge of contempt to the total exclusion of defence of any immunity, adding that he wanted to just prove that his client had not defied the court order deliberately. Justice Aijaz Afzal asked Aitzaz to cross-examine the prosecutor's documents. The PM's counsel said the prosecution in the case did not present any witness for crossed-examination, adding that he was the counsel for the Premier in contempt of the court case and not in NRO verdict implementation case.
Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani observed that the present larger bench was constituted in relation to the NRO verdict implementation. Aitzaz repeatedly submitted that he was representing his client before the bench on a contempt charge and requested the bench to summon the three persons proposed in the application, saying all the three persons would endorse the draft of the summary that was sent to his client (PM).
Aitzaz submitted that he would not have to call any witness other than Nargis Sethi if the court acknowledged that the draft of the summaries was real. He said that it would be Gilani, not his office of premiership that would go behind bars if the court decided to award imprisonment in the case, adding that he wanted to conduct cross-examination of Nargis Sethi as a witness.
Justice Mulk observed that the matter in hand related to the execution of the Premier's official duties on which Aitzaz apprised the bench that the PM was not acquainted with the direct court orders, adding that his client was not ordered in his personal capacity - the judicial directives were meant for the federal government, including Law Secretary.
Justice Nasirul Mulk questioned why the court order was not implemented when the NRO review petition was dismissed? Disposing of Aitzaz's petition for summoning three officials as witness the bench allowed Nargis Sethi to appear before the bench on next date of hearing and adjourned the case till March 07. Later, talking to media, Aitzaz said: "the court has allowed me to present the summaries; Nargis Sethi will appear before the bench and prove the summaries." However, the other two witnesses, Awan and Chishti have refused to appear before the court, Aitzaz said.