ISLAMABAD: Government decided on Wednesday to delay the submission of response to the Supreme Court pertaining to the NRO implementation case. The response would be submitted to the apex court after the approval from the federal cabinet, DawnNews reported.
Replying to questions of media representatives during a press briefing held after the cabinet meeting here, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had already sacrificed one prime minister. Now the cabinet’s approval would be sought before taking future decisions.
The cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, discussed about the NRO implementation response to be submitted in the SC.
Kaira told the media representatives that Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek was not prepared for the briefing on the case.
Naek has asked additional time to prepare for the response, the minister added.
He said, the letter written by Registrar Supreme Court was sent to Law Ministry on Monday and the minister saw it on Tuesday.
The law minister during the cabinet meeting told that he has just taken charge of the ministry and needs more time to get background information about the whole matter.
Kaira said that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the law minister to give briefing to the cabinet on this issue as early as possible as it was very important issue.
The minister said that there was a chance of “one-point agenda meeting” on the issue.
He said that the court has sought reply from the prime minister and cabinet will discuss the matter in its meeting as it was question of continuation of the system.
Moreover, Kaira said that amending constitution and legislation is right of only the Parliament, adding that during the process of amending the constitution to restore it in its original form, 103 clauses of the constitution have been amended by the parliament.
About contempt of court legislation, he said that nothing new has been added in the law and right to appeal was genuine right of the concerned parties.
He said that even the Supreme Court in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case had admitted that the government had the right to legislate on the issue and right of legislation is the right of the parliament.
Kaira said that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified on the issue of writing letter and the PPP despite having reservations accepted the verdict for the sake of continuation of the system.
He said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government has never said that it will never write a letter to Swiss authorities, it said that as per constitution, the letter cannot be written.
He said that the PPP has trust in superior judiciary and respects the institution and will continue to seek relief from the courts.
