What Prime Minister Gilani gets in post-conviction scenario? (Part One)

Some people are might going through their opinions when the Supreme Court of Pakistan had already unveiled its ruling.

According to the expectations of many political pundits, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani was convicted for declining to write a letter to Swiss authorities to ask them to reopen graft cases against President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.

Like Nawaz Sharif, many would call Gilani as the former premier because he has been convicted by a court of law. In quite a confusing move, the Supreme Court sentenced the prime minister to a token punishment, till the rising of the court, sparing him a jail term.

Although legal fraternity is divided on whether premier’s conviction would lead to his disqualification, the detailed verdict is yet to be released.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir said this morning that there was no contempt of court law in the Constitution of Pakistan. He further said that the ruling was in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, adding that there was no decree at the moment existing regarding law of contempt.

Hopefully, the detailed verdict will end this confusion. Some legal experts believe that Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) being the highest-ranking member of the House will have to take decision regarding disqualification of the premier.

In their view, Dr. Fehmida Miraza has to send a notification to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within one month and then the ECP will take a decision to initiate any action against the Prime Minister in 90 days.

In the past, two serving prime ministers Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had been charged with contempt of court but they were never convicted as that of Yusuf Raza Gilani, the only example in the political history of the world.

Following a contempt notice was issued to Nawaz Sharif on recommendation of the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah; he had appeared personally before the Supreme Court on November 17, 1997.

Continued………..

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=20599

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Apr 28 2012. Filed under 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.