KARACHI, Feb 15: The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the federation and the National Accountability Bureau for Feb 29 in a petition moved by Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari but declined to stay the hearing of seven references pending against him in Pakistan and civil proceedings being conducted in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The petitioner submitted through Advocates Farooq H. Naek and Abu Bakar Zardari that all references and proceedings initiated against him since his arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance on Nov 5, 1996, stood terminated under Section 7 of the National Reconciliation Ordinance issued by the president on Oct 5, 2007. The NRO was protected under Section 4 of the Provisional Constitution Order of Nov 3, 2007, and Section 5 of the Revocation of Emergency Order of Dec 15, 2007, and had not lapsed by efflux of time under Article 89 of the Constitution, ‘a fact endorsed by the attorney-general,’ he said.

Despite the termination and withdrawal of the references and proceedings, the petitioner added, the federal government and NAB were pursuing the same in the accountability courts of Rawalpindi and before the Swiss and British authorities.

He requested the respondents to withdraw all proceedings against him as early as Oct 7, 2007, but they failed and neglected not only to do their legal duty but also to respond to his request. The continuation of proceedings, he maintained, violated not only the NRO but also the petitioner’s fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Mr Zardari sought declarations to the effect that the civil proceedings filed by the respondents in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court, London, and the mutual request made to the Swiss government initiating investigations by a magistrate of Geneva stood withdrawn and terminated.

Proceedings in the SGS, ARY Gold, Assets, BMW Car, Cotecna, Ursus Tractor and Polo Ground references pending before a Rawalpindi accountability court should also be declared withdrawn and the respondents restrained from pursuing them, he prayed.

The respondents, he alleged, were out to undermine his respect among the PPP members, the people of Pakistan and the international community throu-gh politically-motivated cases and investigations.