The prime minister sent the reply to the apex court on Tuesday as a response to a show cause notice on the decision that has been criticized by national and international human rights community. The court has already stayed the implementation of the decision taken on October 27, 2008 until it finalized the controversy.
"The Government Case Act has given authority to the government to withdraw or reconcile in criminal cases in which the government is a plaintiff," said the prime minister in his written reply to the court.
In a controversial decision that is being considered in the apex court, the government withdrew the 349 criminal cases, including cases involving 131 murderers and four rapists. The government, however, termed the withdrawn cases as political ones.
"The Comprehensive Peace Agreement also lets the government withdraw political cases," the prime further argued while requesting the apex court to quash the writ petition that has questioned the decision.
The prime minister further told the apex court that there was no legal "fault" in the decision withdrawing the criminal cases.
Related story
It is parliament’s prerogative to designate a party as oppositi...
