Decision to reopen Swiss cases against Zardari challenged in Pak SC - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A petition challenging the verdict to reopen the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari pending in foreign courts, has been filed in the Pakistan Supreme Court. The petitioner, Barrister Zafarullah, in his plea, has argued that it was beyond the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to demand the reopening of cases filed against Zardari in Switzerland. The petition said the President enjoys a special immunity from criminal proceedings under the Article 248 of the Constitution. “The apex court has no right to order the reopening of cases against the president within or outside the country, because the constitution provided indemnity to the president,” The Daily Times quoted the petition, as stating. It may be noted that the Supreme Court had ordered the reopening of a money laundering case being heard in a Swiss court after declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance as “unconstitutional”. The Swiss case was withdrawn under the NRO, which was promulgated by former President General Pervez Musharraf . Meanwhile, a former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Khalid Khwaja , has challenged the Article 248, which provides special immunity to the President, in the Supreme Court. Khwaja, in his petition, has appealed to the apex court to declare the constitutional presidential immunity against legal proceedings as ‘un-Islamic’ and ‘unconstitutional.’ The petition argues that the Article 248 is against the basic human rights and Islamic principles. “The presidential immunity is discriminatory as every citizen is equal before the law,” the petition said.