Prime Minister urges Supreme Court to summon three officials as witnesses

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Monday requested Supreme Court to summon Cabinet/Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi, former Law Minister Babar Awan and Secretary Law Masood Chisti as witnesses in contempt of court case against him.
Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel for the Prime Minister, filed an application in the Supreme Court, seeking the court's directions to summon all the three officials as 'Court Witnesses' with certified copies of the documents in accordance with the principles spelled out in Section 94 and Section 540 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Ahsan contended that Prime Minister depended upon various summaries on the matter which were presented to him on May 21 as September 21 of 2010. These led to contempt of court after a Supreme Court verdict declaring National Reconciliation Ordinance void ab inito was not implemented by the government in letter and in spirit.
Ahsan further pleaded in the application that summaries sent to the Premier were signed by Nargis Sethi, Babar Awan and Masood Chisti who, he contended, were desirable witnesses to prove innocence of the Prime Minister in contempt of court case. "Without the documents and the witnesses, the accused/applicant(PM) would be deprived and denuded of his defence and the apex court of the opportunity to do proper justice - the evidence will be cogent and necessary for the just decision of the case," Ahsan further argued in the application.
Aitzaz Ahsan added: "The premier in his private/personal capacity cannot and does not wish to exercise his official power and authority of the office being Prime Minister to direct or require any official to appear as a witness even though he seeks the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses in his defence against the charge - with respect to private individuals he has no power or authority to summon them."
However, Ahsan said the apex court was authorised to exercise its power to summon the record and officials identified by the accused petitioner as 'Court Witnesses' under Section 94 and 540 of the CrCP. A seven-member SC bench led by Justice Nasir-ul Mulk will resume hearing of contempt of court case against Prime Minister on Tuesday (today).