Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani adamant not to write to Swiss probe

Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani adamant not to write to Swiss probe

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani has recently made the statement that he would not write to the Swiss probe and would prefer going to jail. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has been asking the Prime Minister of the country to write to the Swiss
probe but Yousuf Raza Gilani has disobeyed court orders every time.

Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed his views on the matter in the following words: “If I write a letter it will be a violation of the Constitution, which is treason and which carries the death sentence. If I don’t write, I will be convicted for contempt, the punishment
for which is six months’ imprisonment. It’s better to face six months’ imprisonment than face the death sentence.”

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has been asking the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to write to the Swiss probe in order to re start an investigation regarding a money laundering case in which the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari had been named. Not
only that, the former President of the country, the deceased Benazir Bhutto had also been named as the involved parties in the case.

However, during the time that the President of Pakistan was Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the National Reconciliation Ordinance was drafted and it was signed by Bhutto which brought an end to the investigation. Despite that fact, the apex court of the country
had deemed the NRO as illegal which in effect called for the re starting of the investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari.

However, the government of Pakistan ruled by the Pakistan People’s Party had resisted the orders of the Supreme Court as the Prime Minister of the country had stated that the President was immune to being investigated on the pretext of legal immunity both
within and outside the country. Therefore, Yousuf Raza Gilani had claimed that the act of writing to the Swiss probe would be illegal under the constitution of Pakistan.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had held the Prime Minister of the country in contempt for not obeying court orders.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=15972

Posted by Rabiya Maqbool on Mar 15 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry