News
Monday, February 13, 2012
Gilani stands in the dock todayISLAMABAD: All eyes are on the Supreme Court as it is set to frame contempt of court charges today (Monday) against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
PM Gilani will appear before the seven-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, along with his counsel, Aitzaz Ahsan, and a large numbers of parliamentarians who will come to express solidarity with their leader.
At an earlier hearing on January 19, the prime minister had told the court that the government did not write a letter to the Swiss government as the president enjoys immunity both in Pakistan and abroad.
A senior government officer said the PM might request the court to give time for submitting a written reply against the charge sheet, which would be presented by the court. The final strategy will be devised in the PPP core committee’s meeting, the officer said.
The PPP leadership believes that writing a letter to the Swiss government would be tantamount to the “trial of former PM Benazir Bhutto’s grave”. The leadership says that if the government requests the Swiss government to reopen graft cases, the court could ask for reopening cases against President Zardari within Pakistan too. However, there is a section in the PPP which believes that any action taken by the Supreme Court against the PM could boost the party’s standing, particularly in Punjab. In an indication of the thinking within the PPP, PM Gilani told a public meeting in Punjab on Saturday the party’s leaders, and not the workers, would make “sacrifices” now.
It has been observed that within the PPP, no leader had differed with the party’s top leadership’s decision of not reopening the cases in Switzerland. Aitzaz Ahsan has once again been active in the party’s affairs, which is a good omen for the PPP.
If the prime minister is convicted, he could be imprisoned for six months and face a possible removal from his office after being disqualified from holding a public office for five years. However, legal experts say the president has powers to pardon the prime minister if he is convicted.
SM Zafar, a senior lawyer, said such a presidential pardon would apply only to the punishment handed down by the court while the conviction would remain on record. Therefore, he added, the premier could be disqualified despite being given the presidential pardon.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said that in former PM Nawaz Sharif’s contempt case, the court had set aside his conviction on grounds of President Rafiq Tarar’s pardon for him. At the same time, there are reports that the PPP’s top leadership is considering the possibility that Gilani may have to be replaced if the Supreme Court acts against him. A large number of lawyers loyal to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry are expected to gather outside the SC’s building today to express solidarity with the judiciary.
Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Ashraf Gujjar has asked the lawyers to come to the SC for the purpose. However, People’s Lawyers Forum President Raja Abdul Rehman said the PPP leadership had not called lawyers at the SC because “the party leadership does not want any confrontation”. Legal experts believe any unpleasant incident outside the court can embarrass the judiciary and “the SC administration should, therefore, take additional security steps to avoid a possible confrontation between pro-judiciary and pro-government lawyers”. hasnaat malik
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk