Will the govt make up its mind on NRO?

I will defend NRO in court, says Khawar

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: “I and my team will represent the federal government and defend the NRO in the apex court,” Shah Khawar told The News. When asked he said that he has no idea about hiring of some prominent private lawyers by the government in this case. “It is my and my team’s duty to speak for the government in courts.”

The attorney general said that he has so far received no instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari about the case. He would be meeting Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on his return from Britain to know how to go about in the anti-NRO petitions in the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, when contacted, Minister of State for Law Afzal Sindhu said that the government would engage some legal minds, including retired judges, but added that a decision was yet to be taken about the names to be chosen for the purpose.

According to sources, the government plans to marshal a strong line-up of private leading lawyers to defend the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in the Supreme Court, which opens hearing on the petitions against the now lapsed law on Dec 7. This array will be apart from acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and a number of his deputies, who have already started preparations for the court fight. Other sources said that the government was not in a hurry to avail the services of private lawyers because it believed that no full-fledged hearing on the petitions against the NRO was expected to open on the very first day, Dec 7.