PRISON BETTER THAN GALLOWS

By
fraaz
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23
221

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has taken a novel stance against the Supreme Court on writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, saying that the action would be tantamount to treason under Article 6 of the constitution which could bring the death penalty.
“If I write a letter, it will be a violation of the constitution, which is treason, and which carries the death sentence,” Gilani said while addressing the fifth convocation of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur on Thursday. “If I don’t write, I will be convicted for contempt, the punishment for which is six months’ imprisonment,” he added.
Dramatising the situation, the PM asked the students in the auditorium what should he do in this situation. Some among the students replied that he should choose six months’ imprisonment. Gilani said he would deliver the students’ advice to the authorities concerned.
Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered Gilani to ask Switzerland to reopen corruption cases by March 21. On Wednesday, the information minister claimed that only the parliament had the power to withdraw immunity for the president.
Meanwhile, the lawyer who represented the Government of Pakistan in corruption cases against Zardari said the Swiss government would withdraw immunity for Zardari if Pakistan revokes the protection enjoyed by its president.
“If the Pakistani government abolishes the presidential immunity, the Swiss authorities will follow suit,” Macaulay Franklin said while talking to a private TV channel. He said the Pakistani government could write to the Swiss authorities seeking details about Zardari’s assets, but the Swiss government alone could not act due to the presidential immunity. He said if the funds from alleged Swiss accounts were moved somewhere else to affect the proceedings of the case, it would be considered another crime under the money laundering act.
The prime minister said that national institutions had been strengthened due to the “politics of reconciliation”. He said the independence of judiciary and the supremacy of the parliament were the “fruits of democracy”. Gilani said attempts for stopping Senate elections were made through “conspiracies” such as the memo scandal and the NRO case, but proved futile. About resuming NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, he said the parliament would decide the matter. Gilani said the people of Punjab wanted a new province, not an administrative unit. He said those who were talking about Bahawalpur province were sabotaging the efforts for Saraiki province. After the ceremony, the prime minister laid the foundation stone of Bahawalpur University College of Agriculture, and the Environmental Sciences block which would be completed at a cost of Rs 420 million.

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23 COMMENTS

  7. Jeay Bhutto .. Agle bare phir Zardari …. Pakistan ka Allah hi Hafiz…. Pity that poor people loyal with bhutto blood will agin vote for PPP 🙁

  12. Mr. PM go for gallows. You will do a great service to Pakistan. Take Zardari with you.
    I dont whether you have strengthen the insititutions or not, but your government has certainly ruined the country. People dont have electricity (you have virtually taken Pakistan to stone age), there is no gas, PIA is in ruins(passengers are made to sit in toilets), Railways and steel mill are in ruins. You violate the law of land everyday. So i dont how you can to proud of your achievement. You people fix elections. You should be ashamed of yourself. You better pack up and spare the nations

  13. Even a blind person can see that gillani is loyal to zardari and ppp. He is not loyal to Pakistan. I wish he had proclaimed his loyalty to the country instaed of party. This tells us everything we need to know about him. For not obeying the SC orders he should go to jail. For not following his oath of office (and allegence to Pakistan) he should be hung.

  17. Constitution & Parliament are both supreme in their domains. Supreme Court has the power to interpret Constitution which was granted by the Parliament. But the Supreme Court does not have unbridled power to do so. Article 248(2) is clear and there is no need to get it interpreted by the Supreme Court. It was either due to ulterior motives on the part of Judges or innocence that they did not mention in their Judgement to specifically direct Government to proceed in any cases against elected President of Pakistan after he leaves office.
    The argument that immunity under 248(2) should be claimed is both stupid and funny. Rights under the Constitution do not need to be claimed to be effective. They are there by virtue of the Constitution. Nobody needs to go to the Supreme Court to claim right to Life in order not to get killed. Otherwise, the first question in a murder case would be : Did the murdered person claim his right to Life from the Supreme Court?

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