A sad day it was, indeed. Political benefit and legal detriment aside, Yousaf Raza Gilani becomes the first prime minister of Pakistan to have been formally indicted for contempt of court for “willfully flouting, disregarding and disobeying” the court orders.
Determined to contest the charge, the prime minister, who drove himself to the apex court building, appeared before the seven-judge bench and decided to plead not guilty after Justice Nasirul Mulk read out the charge-sheet. He was accompanied by leaders of his government’s allied parties. On his right sat Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and on his left was Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan – the message in their support was: we will swim and sink together. Without wasting a single minute, Justice Mulk, who headed the bench, straightaway read out the charge-sheet and completed the proceedings within half an hour. In case of his conviction, the prime minister can be sentenced to six months in jail and disqualification from holding any public office for choosing to plead not guilty.
Besides Justice Mulk, the bench comprised Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed.
CHARGES: The charge-sheet states: “That you, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, have willfully flouted, disregarded and disobeyed the direction given by this court in Para 178 in the case of Dr Mobashir Hassan v Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2010 SC 265) (NRO case) to revive the request by the government of Pakistan for mutual legal assistance and status of civil party and the claims lodged to the allegedly laundered moneys lying in foreign countries, including Switzerland, which were unauthorizedly withdrawn by communication by Malik Muhammad Qayyum, former Attorney General for Pakistan to the concerned authorities, which direction you were legally bound to obey and thereby committed contempt of court within the meanings of Article 204(2) of the 1973 Constitution read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance (Ordinance V of 2003), punishable under Section 5 of the Ordinance and within the cognizance of this court. We hereby direct that you be tried by this court on the above said charge.” The charge also carried three questions: “Have you heard and understood the charge? Do you plead guilty to the charge? Do you have any defence to make?”
After Justice Mulk read out the charges, the three-page charge-sheet was handed over to the prime minister through his senior counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen. The charge-sheet was signed by the judges as well as the prime minister. While reading the charges, Justice Mulk asked Gilani: “Have you heard and understood the charge?” Gilani replied: “Yes.” Then the judge asked him: “Dou you plead guilty to the charge?” Gilani replied in the negative. To the third question: “Do you have any defence to make?” Gilani replied in the affirmative. To these three questions of the bench, Gilani also said: “I will reply to the charge-sheet in writing. I will defend myself.” On this, Justice Mulk asked him: “Do you accept the charge-sheet?” Gilani said: “No.” When Justice Mulk proceeded further to fix the next date for the hearing, Ahsen engaged him for a while on the grounds of his unavailability on certain dates and it took some time for the judges to finally decide that Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq would act as prosecutor in the contempt of court case and submit all relevant documents including the list of witnesses of the case by February 16. The attorney general was also directed to record evidence from the prosecution and submit it to the bench for exhibition by February 22. The bench also exempted the prime minister from his personal appearance before it for the time being. The bench asked Ahsen to submit relevant documents from the defence, including the list of witnesses and evidence by February 27. The prime minister’s counsel will defend the charge-sheet and evidence on February 28, three days before the March 2 Senate elections in which the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is expected to emerge as the single largest party. The bench will also resume hearing of the case on February 28. It will be a summary trial and could be completed in a day or may drag on for months. Federal Ministers Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Khursheed Shah, Mir Changeze Jamali, Naveed Qamar, Ahmed Mukhtar, Rehman Malik and Maula Bakhash Chandio were also present in the court besides Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar. After the proceedings, the prime minister left the court building through the exit gate reserved for judges. Strict security arrangements were put in place in and around the Supreme Court during the prime minister’s appearance.
CHARGED!
