PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said the immunity issue would arise only after reopening of cases against the president.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been deliberately keeping its stance on the president’s immunity vague so as to gain political mileage from the situation arising out of the Supreme Court’s verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), interviews with some of the senior party leaders revealed.

The PML-N leaders are reluctant in giving their point of view in categorical terms whether President Asif Zardari enjoys immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution or not, but at the same time they are calling upon the government to ‘reopen’ the SGS case in the Swiss court in light of the verdict.

When this question was put before PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif during a news conference in Peshawar, he replied ambiguously that had he been the president he would have presented himself before the courts, immunity notwithstanding.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a PML-N Senator, is of the opinion that President Zardari did not enjoy immunity under Article 248 in the light of the SC verdict on NRO. He, however, stressed that it was his personal viewpoint, and not that of the party.

On the other hand, PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said the immunity issue would arise only after reopening of cases against the president.

“First, the government should reopen all cases which were illegally closed against President Zardari and then submit a request to courts for an immunity,” Mr Iqbal said while talking to our correspondent.

When asked if the PML-N planned to take the matter to court for interpretation of Article 248, as advised by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in his speech in the National Assembly on Thursday, Mr Iqbal said the party did not want to “unnecessarily drag” the judiciary into a political matter.

“We should not politicise the judiciary by taking all matters before it. If we take every comma and full stop in the Constitution to the court for interpretation, then tomorrow it will be the court which will be making every major decision,” he added.

Mr Iqbal accused the prime minister of confounding the matter by saying that the Swiss case against Mr Zardari could not be opened because the president enjoyed immunity.

The PML-N spokesman said the key question for this government was “lack of credibility”.

On one hand, the PPP claimed that cases against its leaders were politically-motivated and baseless, and on the other, they were hiding the president behind the immunity cover.

Mr Iqbal said if these cases were false, Mr Zardari had an opportunity to silence his opponents by coming out with a riposte.

“The PML-N wants to avoid any clash between institutions as it will be detrimental not for the government itself, but also for the whole country.”