Gilani won't ask Switzerland to reopen cases against Zardari

Islamabad -  Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani "will never" write to Swiss authorities to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, according to a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Sources told the Dawn that the PPP's core committee meeting has decided that no letter would be written to the Swiss government. Instead, the government would fight its case in the Supreme Court.

A senior PPP leader, wishing to remain unidentified, Thursday said that as far as the ruling party was concerned, the letter would not be sent as long as Zardari was holding office.

The apex court had sought reopening of cases closed under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that granted immunity to politicians and bureaucrats in corruption cases. The NRO was struck down as void in 2009.

The court warned the government of action if its ruling on the NRO was not implemented by Jan 10, 2012. It further ordered the government to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Zardari.

Accused of graft, Zardari had been granted amnesty under the NRO in 2007 by then president Pervez Musharraf to facilitate his return and, primarily, that of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

On Jan 16, the court issued Gilani a contempt notice for not acting against Zardari.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who is heading an eight-member bench hearing an appeal filed by the prime minister in the contempt case, had said that if Gilani decided to write to the Swiss

authorities, the aforesaid case could be dropped.But a top official at the Prime Minister's Secretariat said the government was "totally committed" not to write any letter.