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The Supreme Court has granted immunity to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf from court appearances and directed him to submit a draft of the Swiss letter by September 25 in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case. Heading a five-member bench, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa told Ashraf to bring a drafted letter to the court and said that Ashraf would not be 'disturbed' after that, reports The Express Tribune. Ashraf said he "contemplated" a lot during the three-weeks time given to him by the Supreme Court. He said the matter is not related to President Zardari, but his rank, and that he hoped that the court will respect his post. This was Ashraf's second appearance before bench in the NRO implementation case. The Supreme Court dismissed Yousuf Raza Gilani as premier on June 19, after convicting him of contempt in April for refusing to reopen the multi-million-dollar case against Zardari. Incumbent Ashraf was elected premier after Gilani's dismissal. The allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder 12 million dollars allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts. The Swiss shelved the case in 2008 when Zardari became president and the government had been insisting that the president has full immunity. But in 2009 the apex court overturned the NRO ordering that the cases be reopened.

SC gives time to PM Ashraf to submit Swiss letter draft by Sept 25