The Pakistani Spectator

The government has succeeded in removing from a lawyer’s office evidence of the cases against influential personalities filed in the Swiss courts and withdrawn by the Musharraf regime under the NRO.

The proof, stuffed in 12 cartons, collected by spending millions of dollars to take cases filed by Islamabad in the Geneva courts to their logical conclusion, has reached the custody of the Pakistan government at last.

Former president Pervez Musharraf had withdrawn the cases being heard in a Geneva court after signing the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). However, the record was kept by the lawyers appointed by the Musharraf government.

After the Supreme Court directive to get all ordinances passed from parliament, the government could not dare to table the NRO in the assembly because it lacked majority. However, former lawyer ‘Jack P’ was asked to hand over the proof. The lawyer refused to oblige, saying that an important personality is accused in these cases and according to Swiss law he could keep this proof with him for 10 years. The government replaced its lawyer and appointed John J Brunt as the new lawyer who got the proof from the former lawyer. Pakistan High Commissioner in London Wajid Shamsul Hassan and former Deputy Attorney General Danishwar Malik were given the responsibility to take this proof from new lawyer John J Brunt and destroy it.

Danishwar Malik arrived in London and along with Wajid Shamsul Hassan reached Geneva by British Airways flight BA 734 on Sunday evening. Nine am was the time agreed to take the documents from the lawyer. They reached the lawyer’s office by the embassy’s Nissan car No 453 CD-GE while keeping their eyes on the surroundings and adopting different routes. After they examined the record of the proof, the lawyer refused to give them possession of 12 cartons of documents unless they called a responsible officer of the embassy. Then a first secretary of the embassy reached there by car No 253 CD-GE. After one hour, these cartons started shifting from the lawyer’s office to the embassy car No 453 CD-GE. After its recording, Geo News questioned Wajid Shamsul Hassan on what he was carrying in those cartons which he received from the lawyer. The visibly perturbed and nervous Wajid Shamsul Hassan said he knew nothing about the matter.

Asked what he was doing in the lawyer’s office since the morning, Wajid chose to walk away instead of replying to the question.

Malik Danishwar also expressed his ignorance about the issue when he was asked the same question. He also walked towards Wajid Shamsul Hassan, advising the reporter to contact the embassy staff in this regard.

The first secretary also refused to answer on-camera questions but after an assurance that the camera was switched off, he said he was unaware of the matter.

A diplomatic office-holder in a nearby bar told Geo that their cartons contain all the original proof of the Swiss cases.

Meanwhile, a NAB announcement said that the Swiss money laundering case was finished and now it had no importance. He said no secret operation was launched to get the proof. He said case documents were the property of the government. He said the government had to pay till the lawyer kept the documents. He said officials received the documents.

When contacted, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said he was unaware of the whole issue. He charged that a specific section of the media was involved in a heinous campaign against President Zardari.

Geo News broke the news of the government’s taking over the evidence of the cases against influential personalities in the Swiss courts.

A special team of Geo reached Geneva for that purpose and interviewed Pakistan’s ambassadors and officers. A Geo report also showed footage of Pakistani citizens carrying the cartons.