SC resumes NRO implementation case hearing
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday
resumed the hearing in the NRO implementation case, DawnNews reported.
Govt stance on Swiss letter unchanged
ISLAMABAD: A day ahead of the hearing of NRO implementation case by
a five-judge Supreme Court bench, the federal government filed on Tuesday an
application in which it unequivocally stated that it would not write a letter
to the Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Zardari. But the response drafted by Attorney General Irfan Qadir after holding brainstorming sessions with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Law Minister Farooq H. Naek on Monday night was returned by the court office with an objection that a civil miscellaneous application could not be filed against a court decision, although a petition seeking review of an earlier order was possible.
Mr Qadir told reporters that he would move a review petition possibly Wednesday with contentions similar to that contained in the application, reflecting the government’s mood that it was not going to budge from its stance on NRO implementation.
“The prime minister cannot be asked by means of the July 12 order to implement an un-implementable direction given by the Supreme Court in the NRO case,” said the application returned by the court. It requested the court to recall its June 27 and July 12 orders asking the prime minister to clarify his stance on implementing the NRO verdict.
On July 12, the special bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had asked the prime minister to submit a report about compliance with the NRO judgment which required writing the letter to Swiss authorities. The court also warned that it could initiate any appropriate action under the Constitution if the government failed to comply with its orders.
“There is no question whatsoever of revival of Pakistan’s status as a damaged party (writing of letter to the Swiss authorities) because the Supreme Court’s own jurisdiction is limited to the territories of Pakistan,” the application said, adding that if the apex court itself was not in a position to seek revival of Pakistan’s status as a damaged party then it also had no mandate to force the prime minister to do the same. “In fact after the conclusion of Swiss investigations Pakistan has no role to play in these matters. There was no occasion for the seven-judge Supreme Court hearing a contempt case against the former prime minister to have called him thrice in the court. This is an utter disregard of the Constitution and the law,” the application said.
It also argued that since the new prime minister had not received any advice from his cabinet to implement the NRO judgment, he (prime minister) was, therefore, not obliged under the Constitution and the rules of business to do so.
The application said the June 27 and July 12 orders were against Article 248 (1 and 2) (immunity) because the prime minister by virtue of his oath was bound to preserve and protect the Constitution and was under constitutional obligation to disregard any order of the court which negated the Constitution and the law.
The application pointed out certain peculiarities of the NRO case and said: “In this case over 8,000 persons were condemned unheard. The government did not contest this case. Seventeen judges sat for a considerably long period in a case not contested by either side at all….. The Supreme Court assumed full control of NAB, thereby transgressing into executive domain.”
It said a number of portions of paragraphs 177, 178 and 179 (writing of letter to the Swiss authorities) were not implementable.
“In fact such portions have not been implemented till date,” it said.
$1.12bn payment expected from US this week
ISLAMABAD: The sliding rupee and the declining foreign exchange
reserves are getting a temporary relief with the United States scheduled to transfer
later this week about $1.12 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan as part
payment for services provided to coalition forces.Finance Secretary Abdul Wajid Rana informed a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Tuesday that by the beginning of the next week, the country’s foreign exchange reserves would likely increase to $16 billion.
Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves currently stand at $14.77 billion which will go up to $15.89 billion with the inflow of $1.12 billion from the United States under the Coalition Support Fund.
The meeting was also informed that the last financial year had ended with a current account deficit of $4.5 billion which would keep the economy under pressure.
An official said that about 65 per cent of the bills submitted by the defence and finance ministry authorities to the US had been rejected, raising serious questions about the quality of billing.
Pakistan estimates to receive about Rs8.2 billion ($85million) from the United States during the current year under the Kerry-Lugar Aid programme and the amount is also likely to go up with the restoration of normal consultation channels, the official said.
Until May 2011, the defence authorities had billed about $12 billion to the US under the CSF. Most of the bills were disbursed except $3.5 billion that were still outstanding.
This amount did not include services provided to coalition forces in Afghanistan since May 2011 when the defence authorities stopped sending bills as relations started deteriorating in the wake of US action in Abbottabad which led to killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
The official said that according to rough estimates the total outstanding amount on account of the CSF would be around $4.7-5 billion, including the previously billed amount of $3.5 billion. The monthly CSF bills averaged $100 million.
The ECC was informed at the meeting that consumer price indicator stood at 11 per cent in 2011-12 while it was 13.7 per cent in 2010-11. The wholesale price indicator remained at 10.4 per cent while it was 21.3 per cent in 2010-11. Sensitive price indicator remained at 7.15 per cent while it was 16.6 per cent in 2010-11.
Large Scale Manufacturing grew by 1.3 per cent in May 2012. Exports reached $24.66 billion and imports were worth $40 billion.
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must focus on competitiveness
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