Gilani’s clear-cut stance for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities

It has been made painfully clear that the Supreme Court wants the incumbent to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen cases against Asif Ali Zardari, but Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani is not ready to do so.

Apparently, the premier is being facetious. However, he is dead serious about it. The apex court will has to be pretty clear why it should be done, if it wants the government to do what it ordered.

A case can easy be made for it that why the government is not executing the court’s rulings. However, that decree will have to be followed by a particular interpretation of the issue of immunity. Is the court wants to do that?

In the present scenario, there are several cases that the press routinely mixes up of which one is that of contempt of court, which involves Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani. Some other cases before the court might influence the verdict in this particular case but they are separate cases even so.

The premier clearly observed he follows rules, he follows the Constitution and he doesn’t feel that he has done any contempt.

On Sunday, Gilani said that the issue of presidential immunity should be referred to the parliament.

Apart from his stance on the immunity, his words do ring true if the court is completely hesitant about giving a formal decision on it. He believes the question of immunity is a legislative issue, not a judicial one.

It is quite clear that the parliament is surprisingly a flexible institution. The issue of the appointment of the judges in the 18th Amendment is the best example to understand this point.

The apex court had sent it back to the legislative assemblies after faced issues. However, the representatives of the people were able to thrash out a healthy compromise amongst themselves.

If the court sends the issue to the parliament, it will not be a cakewalk for the ruling party. They would have to jump through the flaming hoops of the opposition benches like they did so in other cases.

However, they should be allowed to, if they are willing to put it through the test. This indeterminate state is dragging out for much longer than it should.

The apex court has many important things on its plate, as the hundreds of thousands of litigants across the country should be respected.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Mar 12 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.