The Supreme Court on Thursday said if it was assumed that Asif Ali Zardari did enjoy presidential immunity, it (immunity) might shield him from prosecution, but not from writing a letter to the Swiss authorities. Resuming the hearing of a contempt of court case against Premier Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani over his refusal to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a seven-member bench led by Justice Nasirul Mulk directed Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan to conclude his arguments by Friday (today).
At the outset of hearing, Ahsan presented before the bench a Memorandum by the Secretariat of United Nations, which provides immunity to diplomats‚ foreign ministers‚ missions and all heads of state. Citing various cases, he said the ICJ had also halted proceedings against the heads of the states on the grounds that they enjoyed immunity.
Aitzaz told the court that heads of state of Republic of Congo and Dijibouti were exempted from the cases under the same law, adding that in Dijibouti case, the head of state was not even summoned as a witness. He further informed the bench that due to the law of immunity, Colonel Qadhafi escaped proceedings against him in France whereas in General Pinochet's case, the court had held that the head of state had the immunity.
Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa said that in different areas, heads of states had been termed first diplomats. Justice Nasirul Mulk noted that might be just for that reason the courts considered the heads of the state immune. Justice Khosa noted that due to increasing violations of traffic rules in New York City, diplomatic immunity had been curtailed and certain restrictions were being imposed there.
During the hearing, when Aitzaz stressed that the president enjoyed absolute immunity in civil and criminal cases, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany noted that "immunity is from initiation of case and not from writing the letter." Aitzaz said the heads of state had enjoyed this immunity even in exile or incognito.
He also read out the Supreme Court's orders and the summaries written to the Prime Minister by the Law Ministry about implementation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) verdict, particularly to the extent of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
According to the rules of business, he said, instead of the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, law ministry and law secretary were responsible for the implementation of court's order in the NRO case. The bench then observed that its orders would have to be implemented by every concerned one. Later, the court adjourned hearing of the case till Friday (today).